Digital Savvies, fascinating target group...

Trendy, outstanding, unseen, these are mostly the demands we place on our digital concepts and their realization. We pull out all the stops, combining strong bold messages with the latest finesse to create experiences with unparalleled brilliance and depth.
And then it turns out that a maximum of 5% of the population appreciates the many ideas, no... can even have these experiences.

In the technology space, the "savvies," i.e., savvy, affinity connoisseurs, are the early adopters, the beta users who own all the latest tech gadgets. They are our favorites, because we, as protagonists of the social web, hope that they will loyally and loudly sing the praises of our brands. This tempts us to create beautiful concepts for them, but unfortunately they very often disappear into a deep black hole. We often reach only a very small percentage, because Savvies represent the entire spectrum of our target group in the fewest cases.

Take QR codes, for example. A QR code reader is not exactly at the top of the list of apps downloaded to the smart phone. That begs the question: who do we really want to reach with the QR code we just had printed on our posters? Very often, we focus on the target group that thinks exactly like us, the technically savvy marketing people. We interpret the many demographic market figures to fit our digital hobbyist or lobbyist notions, instead of first really studying the behavior of the entire target group in depth. A short memorable URL very often does a far better job than a QR code.

We are not suggesting that a "savvy" person has no influence on the rest of the population. Geolocation services are outstanding examples of this. When a savvy person recommends a brand or a place, it has a huge impact on less savvy consumers. Reviews on Google Maps influence hundreds of thousands via GPS and smartphones and many other platforms. But even there, it ultimately comes down to the right design to really get the avalanche rolling. For example, rewards should not be given for purchasing a product or visiting a location, but for credibly spreading the word about the recommendation.

Savvies, the savvy and tech-savvy have their role, whether as a trailblazer or as an important, influential blogger, but don't gear your concepts solely to these digital crazies. Don't just rely on those who run after every hype. Do your homework, take a hard look at your target audiences and their knowledge and behavior, and then create your digital communications to reach all of their audiences.