Ask the experts

Do you have a burning question that you would like the answer to? Or maybe you’re looking for some advice to help your business? In each edition some questions will be shared and answered by some of The Business Bulletin experts.

Q. Is having a target market important?

A. The short answer is yes. The slightly longer answer is that if you don’t know who your target market (i.e ideal customers) are, then how will anyone else? You need to know it in order to assess where to market to, what messages to use etc. AND in order to get useful referrals, they need to know who you are after as well. As a graphic designer I can in theory work with ‘anyone’, but this isn’t going to bring ‘anyone’ to mind. If however, I tell you that my ideal customers are:

Businesses over five years old

With at least five staff

Who understand the value of good graphic design

Who don’t have the skills inhouse

And worry that they are losing ground to their competition because their marketing materials are not good enough

That might start the cogs whirring. If I say that they ideally are:

Based in Northamptonshire or surrounding counties

May have used other agencies but have had bad experiences OR have a member of staff who does the graphics as only part of their ‘real job’

And are in finance or engineering

That might start you thinking of specific companies perhaps. Now that description above isn’t even that great, it still needs work, but its a hell of a lot better than ‘Anyone’. And often it leads to someone thinking of a company that fits only some of the criteria, something that wouldn’t happen without some of that detail. And does it mean that I can’t work with new IT startup one-man-bands? Nope. It just makes your marketing more targetted towards your ideal market(s)

Mark Coster - Pixooma

A. A target market is very important and by moving away from “everybody” being your target to narrowing down it will help you rather than hinder you and below are, from a sales perspective, the reasons why.

1. You will be more successful By picking a target market and just working in that arena, you can truly get under their skin and understand their pain points, what their issues are, and why they would want your product. This knowledge helps with the sales process because you will be able to tell them exactly how your product/service resolves their needs, want, issues, or problems, which is key in for a successful sale.

2. It saves you time and money By honing in on who would really benefit from your product and what their needs, wants, issues and problems are, you can speak directly to them with your marketing content, you can attend the networking events where they would attend and use the social media platforms they use. In addition to this, you also know who your likely decision-maker would be, which takes the guesswork out of who to try to speak to within an organisation if you are undertaking a pro-active sales approach

3. You become an “expert” Having the status of being an expert in your field, is invaluable as it enhances your credibility and creates trust with your prospective customer. Your knowledge of their industry, market, etc, gives them the reassurance you know what you are talking about and that your product/service is tried and tested in their world. Taking time to really sit and think about who you will target and why will pay dividends.

Julie Futcher – The Sales Manager

Q. Which social media platforms should I focus on? How do I decide where to put my time and effort?

A. Your starting point should be to work out which platform is appropriate for your business and which one(s) your target customers are using. If you’re a business specialising in professional services or your target market comprises people that you network with regularly then Linked In is a good start.

Facebook and Instagram are ideal if your business is more customer focused and you have product to sell with good supporting imagery. It’s important to remember that Instagram has a younger audience than Facebook with 29% of its UK users aged 18-24; 35% are in the 2534 age group. 56% of Instagram users being female. These platforms also offer you the opportunity to grow a real community with your audience and to get that all important word of mouth buzz going. If you have product to sell then it’s also worth considering using the shop functions that both these platforms offer.

Twitter is an excellent place to be if you want to drive traffic to your website by sharing blog posts and news for your industry. Careful use of #tags is essential and it’s important to ensure you keep up to date with trending topics so you’re ready and able to jump in if there is something that relates specifically to what you do.

Twitter is also a good place to be if you regularly attend exhibitions and trade shows, you can keep up with what key Julie Futcher clients are doing and also ensure that you’re involved with the conversation around the events you attend. Tiktok came to prominence during lock down, before you jump on the bandwagon it’s important to remember that 26% of it’s users are 18-24 years old, 9% of users are 25-34 years old. My advice to clients is always to have a plan for using social media, be consistent – post regularly, listen to your followers, interact with them and don’t spread yourself too thinly. Concentrating on one or two platforms that really work for you is a much better use of your time and energy.

Eleanor Lester - Shrewd PR.