What Is Normal Anyway?
Whatever it is, don’t go looking for it
There used to be a concept of “normal.”
Not just in behavior, but in marketing.
There were mass audiences. Shared references. Predictable pathways. You could speak to “the average consumer,” and reasonably expect a decent percentage of people to respond. Sure, there were outliers, countercultures, and niche subgroups. But they were small, they were hard to find, and—crucially—they weren’t the default.
But today?
There is no default.
In a world of infinite information, personalization, identity, and nuance, the very idea of a singular “normal” consumer is obsolete. Even among tight demographic segments — say, suburban dads in their 30s — there’s enormous diversity in the media they consume, the causes they care about, how they spend money, and how they see themselves.
Which means if your marketing is built on assumptions of what’s “typical,” you’re likely missing the mark.
This is the trap of broadcasting instead of connecting. When a message doesn’t land, it’s often because it wasn’t designed with a clear person in mind. We assumed too much. We generalized too broadly. We thought, “This should resonate,” without asking, “With whom, exactly? In what context? And why now?”
The challenge (and opportunity) is to go deeper. Understand not just broad segments, but micro-patterns: What does your audience value? Where do they spend their attention? How do they see themselves? What are they navigating right now?
In a post-normal world, effective marketing isn’t about crafting the perfect message. It’s about crafting the right message, for the right person, at the right moment.
Takeaways to apply:
Stop chasing “the average user.” Start identifying specific personas, behaviors, or journeys that make sense for your brand to target.
Reconsider your segmentation. Geographic, demographic, and even psychographic profiles are often too blunt—layer in behavior, context, and identity.
Design for resonance, not reach. You don’t need everyone to love your message—you need someone to feel like it was made just for them.
Validate with qualitative insights. Broad surveys may give you trends, but 1:1 interviews reveal the nuance you need to make better decisions.
Use channel context to your advantage. A message on TikTok shouldn’t look or feel like the same one on LinkedIn. Go where your audience is, not where you wish they’d be.
The old playbook of normal is gone. What’s replaced it is messier—but far more powerful if you know how to navigate it.
