Businesses large and small are guilty of wasting marketing spend. This article from Second Opinion Marketing explores the common pitfalls companies encounter and makes recommendations on how to avoid making expensive mistakes.
Targeting Everyone and Reaching No-One
Have you ever placed an advert or run a marketing campaign and received little or no response in spite of having a good product, well described? You are not alone. 9 times out of 10 the reason is simple – poor targeting or the scattergun approach.
Think of a farmer sowing seed widely across his whole field, taking no account of whether the soil is fertile, stony or full of weeds. We’re not at all surprised when only some of the seeds take root and flourish.
The same applies to promoting your business and its products – don’t waste valuable seed. If your marketing activity is indiscriminate - you haven’t decided exactly who you want to reach with your message and how best to reach them - you are unlikely to succeed and very likely to waste your investment in marketing.
The key to success is knowing your customers and target clients really well. Imagine them sitting in front of you. What do they look like? How do they speak? What are they reading? Where do they socialise? What type of job do they have? What type of car do they drive?
What influences them? Who’s opinion do they value? And if you are in the business-to-business arena think about the type of business you sell to – size, industry type, and decision-making process. But don’t forget it may be a business cheque you receive as a result of the sale but it’s an individual or at worst a group of individuals who make the decision – find out what motivates them.
All of this will help with targeting because the clearer the image you have of your target audience the more likely you are to strike a chord with them.
The most successful businesses have a deep understanding of the market they operate in and carefully segment that market. So rather than, for example talking about operating in the insurance market selling to UK adults, they segment down to motor insurance and understand the divisions in the market and motivation for buying which will be very different for example in the youth, new driver market to the over 40s new driver segment.
In the first case the excitement of passing the test, buying a first car and a desire to obtain insurance cover quickly may result in a decision based on price and availability alone. In the second the potential customer may be more aware of a range of players in the market, and in fact may go to an existing supplier, for example the company they have their home insurance with. They are more likely to have an opinion and perceptions about insurance companies in the market. They may be more interested in the added benefits they can get, like breakdown cover, for added peace of mind. They will almost certainly have...
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