There are a more than a half dozen main marketing strategies that entrepreneurs can choose from to market their businesses—networking, advertising, public relations, and trade show / conference participation to name a few. The question is: Which marketing strategies are the best for your business? While some experts suggest that any of them will work, I disagree. See, I'm a firm believer that everything is not right for everyone. Plus, if you recall from previous articles, my goal is to help you to become a lofty entrepreneur, not an overworked one. Therefore, when advising my clients, I explain that which marketing strategy is best really depends on their marketing goals, target audiences and ability to invest in the marketing strategy.
Guideline #1: Determine what your overall marketing goal is.
Most business owners believe that marketing has one purpose and one purpose only: To coax customers to buy a product or service. However, lofty entrepreneurs know that marketing activities can be designed to generate not only sales but also leads or brand awareness. As you choose the marketing strategies you'll implement for your business, it's important that you clearly define what your goal is. Your choice will help you to narrow down which are the best marketing strategies for your business as well as how your marketing messages should be crafted. For example, if your goal is to generate leads, a public relations campaign to the media is not the best marketing strategy to consider; PR is an indirect way of reaching consumers. Plus, you cannot easily control who will receive your marketing message. Direct mail, on the other hand, is a smart marketing strategy. Why? You can send your marketing pieces directly to those you hope will be your consumers and design a marketing message specifically to peak their interests that will entice them to contact you!
Guideline #2: Choose the most effective ways to reach your target audiences.
You must always keep your potential customers at the forefront of your mind. What "places"—online or offline—do your customers frequent? When are your customers most likely to be open to receiving your marketing messages? It's important to know the responses to these questions because the marketing strategies that you choose should complement the when and where of your target audiences. For example, if you run a pet grooming service, you may want to focus on marketing your business at local dog parks, pet stores and veterinarian offices. As for the "when" you may want to time your promotions around the holidays, hand out coupons at dog parks on the weekends or broker a co-marketing deal with the vet when they do reminder mailings to their customers.
Guideline #3: Assess your ability to sustain your chosen marketing strategies.
Marketing is something that, by nature, must be repeated several times and that must be executed on an ongoing basis in order to be effective. Translation: Marketing can be expensive! It can cost you a significant amount of cash, time or both. Therefore, both the time and cost involved in implementing, executing and maintaining your marketing strategies should be considered right from the start. For instance, if you decide you want to establish a blog as another means to reach your target audience, how often will you post content on it? Will you do the writing or will you hire someone to do it for you? If your primary marketing strategy is to reach your target audience via creating YouTube videos or hosting an Internet radio show, how often will you "speak" to your audiences? Do you have the time to create show ideas and find guests? Do you have the budget to make sure the production value of your show / video accurately represents your business' professionalism? Think through things like this before deciding on each marketing strategy and you'll save yourself quite a bit of undue hassle later!
While you can technically choose to implement as many marketing strategies as you desire, doing so is not necessarily the wisest decision. The cost of maintaining them all is one very big reason why. However, the most important reason is that attempting to juggle a half dozen or more marketing strategies would be too cumbersome for most small business owners. (Remember: You should be customizing and executing your marketing strategies for each of your target audiences!) Therefore, I recommend that you focus on no more than three marketing strategies. That way, you can perfect your marketing strategies for and maximize the benefits of each one.
Well, that's it for now. As always, I'd love to hear from you. So, do share your thoughts on the articles and send me an email from time to time with any questions that you may have.
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Thursday, August 1, 2013
How To Choose The “Right” Target Audiences
A while back we chatted, we talked about how to get a handle on your marketing planning. Well, today, I’m providing tips on how to determine one of the most important foundational elements of your marketing plan: The consumers you’ll be marketing your products / services to! Here are four lists you should make to determine not only which target audience is right for your business, but ideal.
Take Advantage of Your Competition (List #1)
The easiest way to create an initial list of potential target audiences is to study your competition. (Why reinvent the wheel, right?) Ask yourself: Who are my top competitors and to which groups are they marketing their products / services? This is a great way to begin strategizing groups that could (or should) be your target audience.
Look Internally (List #2)
Once you’ve surveyed your competitors’ target audiences, look internally at your company’s capabilities and goals. Think about what you sell, then ask yourself: Who NEEDS my products and services? Follow up with: Why do they NEED what I offer? Remember: The key word in that sentence is need, not want! If you cannot state a “why” for a particular group within 30 seconds, that group should not be included on your list; however, if you can, go ahead and add it.
Start Organizing: Drill Down & Be Specific (List #3)
Lists #1 and #2 combine to form your “long list” of potential target audiences. Now it’s time to find the right target audience for your business, which should be a much shorter list (aka: list #3). To do this, use the following factors to eliminate entries on your long list that do not fit your business’ goals and capabilities:
“Test” Your Target Audiences for Profitability (List #4)
At this stage, you finally know which are the right target audiences for your business! Just look at what’s left on list #3. While you can market to each of these audiences, I recommend that (at least initially) you focus on those you believe will be the most profitable. Consider the size of the groups on your list, how accessible each group is, each group’s ability to afford your services and like criteria to determine profitability potential. Ultimately though, you decide the criteria for profitability. The target audiences left on your list become your “A” audiences on list #4, your ideal target audiences!
Map It Out
After completing list #4, most businesses will have one to three main target audiences and two or more sub target audiences within each of those groups. Therefore, the best way to organize and visualize your target audiences is to create a diagram. A diagram is also a great way to create a quick reference that you can use as you’re the creating strategies and tactics for each target market in your marketing plan.
One Final Note...
Fine-tuning your target audiences should be an ongoing business practice because consumer preferences / needs are constantly changing. Therefore, the profile for the target audiences that are right and ideal for your business now may not be in the future. If you can, re-assess your target audiences every six months; at minimum, make it a priority to review your target audience choices annually.
Take Advantage of Your Competition (List #1)
The easiest way to create an initial list of potential target audiences is to study your competition. (Why reinvent the wheel, right?) Ask yourself: Who are my top competitors and to which groups are they marketing their products / services? This is a great way to begin strategizing groups that could (or should) be your target audience.
Look Internally (List #2)
Once you’ve surveyed your competitors’ target audiences, look internally at your company’s capabilities and goals. Think about what you sell, then ask yourself: Who NEEDS my products and services? Follow up with: Why do they NEED what I offer? Remember: The key word in that sentence is need, not want! If you cannot state a “why” for a particular group within 30 seconds, that group should not be included on your list; however, if you can, go ahead and add it.
Start Organizing: Drill Down & Be Specific (List #3)
Lists #1 and #2 combine to form your “long list” of potential target audiences. Now it’s time to find the right target audience for your business, which should be a much shorter list (aka: list #3). To do this, use the following factors to eliminate entries on your long list that do not fit your business’ goals and capabilities:
- Category – Which category describes your business? At the top level of the target audience hierarchy are the two primary categories into which all businesses fall: Business-to-Business (B2B) and Business-to-Consumer (B2C). If what you sell is designed for a business / organization / civic agency, etc. you’re a B2B business; if not, you’re a B2C business. (NOTE: Yes, it is possible to be both a B2B and a B2C business. If this is the case, your list #3 will be divided into two sections—one for your B2B target audiences and one for your B2C target audiences.)
- Geography – What is the realistic geographical reach for the products / services that you offer? The area that you can feasibly service may be a neighborhood, a city, a zip code, a state, a multi-state region, a nation or multiple nations. Consider the logistics associated with providing your products / services when determining the geographical area of your target market. Nix target audiences that are outside of your geographical reach.
- Demographics – What are the key characteristics that you believe that your target audience should possess? Decide by creating a demographic profile. If you’re a B2C entrepreneur, your profile should include gender, age (range) and income (range); in some cases, you may also want to include preferences for each target market’s education level, lifestyle habits, marital status, profession, etc. If you’re an entrepreneur who targets B2B consumers, your demographic profile might include characteristics such as years in business, annual revenue, industry and organizational size. Once you’ve built your profiles, apply them to the remaining potential target audiences on your list to further narrow down the possibilities.
“Test” Your Target Audiences for Profitability (List #4)
At this stage, you finally know which are the right target audiences for your business! Just look at what’s left on list #3. While you can market to each of these audiences, I recommend that (at least initially) you focus on those you believe will be the most profitable. Consider the size of the groups on your list, how accessible each group is, each group’s ability to afford your services and like criteria to determine profitability potential. Ultimately though, you decide the criteria for profitability. The target audiences left on your list become your “A” audiences on list #4, your ideal target audiences!
Map It Out
After completing list #4, most businesses will have one to three main target audiences and two or more sub target audiences within each of those groups. Therefore, the best way to organize and visualize your target audiences is to create a diagram. A diagram is also a great way to create a quick reference that you can use as you’re the creating strategies and tactics for each target market in your marketing plan.
One Final Note...
Fine-tuning your target audiences should be an ongoing business practice because consumer preferences / needs are constantly changing. Therefore, the profile for the target audiences that are right and ideal for your business now may not be in the future. If you can, re-assess your target audiences every six months; at minimum, make it a priority to review your target audience choices annually.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)