How to Use TURF Analysis to Optimize Your Marketing Strategy
TURF analysis is a statistical technique that can help you measure the potential reach and frequency of your marketing campaigns. TURF stands for Total Unduplicated Reach and Frequency, which means the number of people who will be exposed to your message at least once and how often they will see it.
TURF analysis can help you answer questions such as:
- What is the best combination of products or features to offer to your target market?
- What is the optimal number of media channels or platforms to use for your advertising campaign?
- How can you maximize your market coverage and minimize your costs?
In this blog post, we will explain what TURF analysis is, how it works, and when to use it. We will also show you some examples of TURF analysis applied to different scenarios.
What is TURF Analysis?
TURF analysis is a type of conjoint analysis, which is a method of studying consumer preferences and behavior. Conjoint analysis allows you to measure how people value different attributes or levels of a product or service, such as price, quality, design, etc.
TURF analysis takes conjoint analysis a step further by ranking different combinations of attributes or levels based on how many people they will affect. For example, if you are selling ice cream, you might want to know what are the best flavors to offer to your customers. You can use conjoint analysis to find out how much each customer likes each flavor, but you also need to consider how many customers will choose each flavor. TURF analysis can help you find the optimal mix of flavors that will reach the most customers and satisfy their preferences.
How Does TURF Analysis Work?
TURF analysis works by creating a matrix of possible combinations of attributes or levels and calculating their reach and frequency. Reach is the percentage of customers who will choose at least one of the items in the combination. Frequency is the average number of times that each customer will choose an item in the combination.
For example, suppose you have four flavors of ice cream: vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, and mint. You want to know what are the best two flavors to offer to your customers. You can create a matrix of all possible pairs of flavors and calculate their reach and frequency based on your customer data.
| Flavors | Reach | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| Vanilla + Chocolate | 80% | 1.5 |
| Vanilla + Strawberry | 75% | 1.4 |
| Vanilla + Mint | 70% | 1.3 |
| Chocolate + Strawberry | 65% | 1.2 |
| Chocolate + Mint | 60% | 1.1 |
| Strawberry + Mint | 55% | 1 |
Based on this matrix, you can see that vanilla and chocolate are the best pair of flavors to offer, as they have the highest reach (80%) and frequency (1.5). This means that 80% of your customers will choose either vanilla or chocolate at least once, and on average they will choose them 1.5 times.
When to Use TURF Analysis?
TURF analysis can be used for various purposes, such as:
- Product development: You can use TURF analysis to determine what are the most appealing features or benefits of your product or service, and how to prioritize them.
- Product portfolio: You can use TURF analysis to decide what are the best products or variants to offer in your portfolio, and how to optimize their pricing and positioning.
- Media planning: You can use TURF analysis to select the most effective media channels or platforms for your advertising campaign, and how to allocate your budget and frequency across them.
- Market segmentation: You can use TURF analysis to identify different segments of customers based on their preferences and behavior, and how to tailor your marketing strategy for each segment.
Examples of TURF Analysis
Here are some examples of how TURF analysis can be applied to different scenarios:
- Example 1: You are launching a new line of shampoo with four different benefits: moisturizing, anti-dandruff, volumizing, and color-protecting. You want to know what are the best two benefits to highlight in your packaging and advertising. You conduct a survey among your potential customers and ask them to rate each benefit on a scale from 1 (not important) to 5 (very important). You then use TURF analysis to rank the combinations of benefits based on their reach and frequency.
| Benefits | Reach | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| Moisturizing + Anti-dandruff | 85% | 2 |
| Moisturizing + Volumizing | 80% | 1.8 |
| Moisturizing + Color-protecting | 75% | 1.6 |
| Anti-dandruff + Volumizing | 70% | 1.4 |
| Anti-dandruff + Color-protecting | 65% | 1.2 |
| Volumizing + Color-protecting | 60% | 1 |
Based on this analysis, you can see that moisturizing and anti-dandruff are the best benefits to emphasize, as they have the highest reach (85%) and frequency (2). This means that 85% of your customers will value either moisturizing or anti-dandruff benefits at least once, and on average they will value them twice.
- Example 2: You are planning a social media campaign for your brand and you have a budget of $10,000. You want to know what are the best platforms to use and how much to spend on each one. You have four options: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. You conduct a survey among your target audience and ask them to indicate how likely they are to follow your brand on each platform on a scale from 1 (very unlikely) to 5 (very likely). You also have data on the cost per impression (CPI) and the average impressions per follower (IPF) for each platform. You then use TURF analysis to rank the combinations of platforms based on their reach and frequency.
| Platforms | Reach | Frequency | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Facebook + Instagram | 90% | 3 | $6,000 |
| Facebook + Twitter | 85% | 2.5 | $5,000 |
| Facebook + YouTube | 80% | 2 | $4,000 |
| Instagram + Twitter | 75% | 1.8 | $4,500 |
| Instagram + YouTube | 70% | 1.6 | $4,500 |
| Twitter + YouTube | 65% | 1.4 | $3,500 |
Based on this analysis, you can see that Facebook and Instagram are the best platforms to use, as they have the highest reach (90%) and frequency (3). This means that 90% of your audience will follow your brand on either Facebook or Instagram at least once, and on average they will see your posts three times. The cost of this combination is $6,000, which is within your budget.
Conclusion
TURF analysis is a powerful tool that can help you optimize your marketing strategy by finding the best combinations of products, features, media channels, or platforms that will reach the most customers and satisfy their preferences. TURF analysis can also help you reduce your costs and increase your efficiency by eliminating unnecessary or redundant items from your portfolio or campaign.
To conduct a TURF analysis, you need to have data on your customer preferences and behavior, as well as the attributes or levels of your product or service, or the media channels or platforms that you want to use. You can collect this data through surveys, focus groups, experiments, or secondary sources. You can then use a software tool such as Conjointly to perform the TURF analysis and generate the results.
TURF analysis can help you make better decisions and achieve better outcomes for your business. However, you should also consider other factors such as your objectives, resources, competitors, and market trends when designing your marketing strategy. TURF analysis is not a magic bullet, but a useful tool that can complement your marketing research and planning.
