Aim for Beef's Bull's-Eye
Understanding Beef's Target Audience
Research shows beef is consumed in a large percentage of American households, thus the most promising opportunity for increasing beef demand is to increase the number of occasions when consumers eat beef. Read on to learn which customers you should target and how you can encourage them to increase their number of weekly beef-eating occasions.
Results of an online consumer questionnaire conducted in December 2007 helped identify consumer habits and traits that contribute to purchasing beef. Additional analysis was completed on the industry’s media target - food and health involved consumers, and a particularly vocal group within these consumers called food and health involved influencers.
The food and health involved target audience is growing steadily. Consumers increasingly seek a diet that embraces both great taste and nutrition, and this group has potential for eating more beef while staying within USDA guidelines for a healthy diet. Consumers in the target audience zero in on brand messaging combining the nutritional benefits of beef with love for the great taste.
The food and health influencers are likely to impact others' opinions about the role beef can play in a healthy diet because they are knowledgeable about food, health and nutrition issues. These are well-educated consumers who have done research on what they believe is good for them, and they aren't afraid to speak up and demand the products they want.
The food and health influencers have a positive perception of beef already, believing it has inherent nutritional strengths not generally recognized. Consequently, they are optimistic they will consume more beef in the future.
How can you put this information to work for you? Effective communication to both the food and health influencer and the food and health involved audiences should include beef nutrition messaging about the protein, iron, zinc and B-vitamins in beef and the 29 cuts of beef that meet USDA's definition of lean. While these messages may be directed to the target consumers described above, they will also appeal to the general consumer as well.
Need a refresher on beef nutrition? Click here.
Source: Beef Target Audience, Project Snapshot, Beef Checkoff-Funded Research & Knowledge Management/Market Research Group, January 2008.