---
id: "action-rethink-target-audience"
type: "action-item"
source_timestamps: ["§ Don't Assume Your Most Tech-Savvy Users Are Your Most Receptive"]
tags: ["product-marketing", "audience-segmentation"]
related: ["claim-creative-task-gap", "contrarian-tech-savvy-target", "framework-literacy-tailored-ai-strategy"]
action: "Target low-literacy users rather than tech-savvy experts when marketing AI tools for creative or coaching domains."
outcome: "Higher initial receptivity and adoption rates for consumer-facing AI products."
speakers: ["Chiara Longoni", "Gil Appel", "Stephanie M. Tully"]
sources: ["adoption"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-adoption"
originDay: 9
articleStem: "hbr-edu-39-understanding-ai-not-embrace"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2025/07/why-understanding-ai-doesnt-necessarily-lead-people-to-embrace-it"
sourceTitle: "Why Understanding AI Doesn’t Necessarily Lead People to Embrace It"
---
# Rethink Target Audiences for AI Products

**Action:** Target low-literacy users rather than tech-savvy experts when marketing AI tools for creative or coaching domains.

**Detail:** Do not default to the most technically sophisticated users (e.g., those with AI degrees) when launching new AI tools. Especially for products in **creative or coaching domains**, the most enthusiastic early adopters are likely those with the *lowest* AI literacy (see [[claim-creative-task-gap]] and the contrarian insight [[contrarian-tech-savvy-target]]). This inverts the Diffusion-of-Innovations instinct and is Step 2 of the [[framework-literacy-tailored-ai-strategy]].

**Outcome:** Higher initial receptivity and adoption rates for consumer-facing AI products.

> **Enrichment caution:** "Rethink," not "abandon." For *logical/data* tools the reverse holds ([[claim-logical-task-reversal]]); always cross literacy with the [[concept-task-domain-moderation]] axis before choosing a target.