Your Roadmap for Targeting Marketing

by Michele Rempel

Have you ever gotten into a conversation with someone at a networking event who said that “everyone” was their ideal customer or client? Maybe you’ve been guilty of claiming that your product or service could be sold to anyone. While in practice this may be true (most of us do need some type of insurance, for example), this type of catch-all thinking does not help your marketing efforts. Even if your product or service could be purchased by everyone, there is certainly a group of people who are more likely to buy from you.

Rather than targeting everyone, you should focus your marketing efforts on the ideal customer for your business. Not only is advertising to everyone rarely effective, the practice can actually hurt your marketing efforts by annoying people and wasting your advertising budget. By the way, when you’re at a networking event, having a definite idea of your target market makes you more memorable and helps others think of possible referrals for you.

“Consistency + frequency = visibility

Being targeted is a smart approach to your marketing. Here’s a great roadmap to identifying your target market:

1. Create a customer profile. What does your ideal customer look like in terms of demographics? Do they generally fit within a certain age group, income and education level? What are their interests? Where do they live? Some people find it helpful to give this ideal customer a name and even a background story. If you have a website and have been collecting visitor data, this might be a good source of information that you may not have considered. (If you haven’t been collecting visitor data, it’s time to start!)

2. Identify your customer’s needs. Now that you have a profile of your customer, you need to detail the specific needs that your product or service will fulfill. What is the problem they are having that your product or service will solve? Ask the questions they will ask, or make the complaints that they will make, and you’ll be able to address their concerns in your answer (your marketing message!) before they occur.

3. List out the ways your ideal customer would find you. Does this person check Facebook all the time? Watch videos? Read snail mail? Watch sports? Do Google searches? Read the news? The best way to reach your target audience is via the channels from which they get their information already.

Now that you’ve done your market research and identified your ideal customer, it’s time to reach out to them. The key is to share your marketing messages where they are most likely to receive them.

Everyone’s natural inclination is to use social media, but which channel is appropriate for your target market? If your ideal customer is generally younger than 30, for example, Facebook may now be a waste of time. Remember to refer to your ideal customer profile and the most likely places they would find you based on their demographics and behaviors.

Once you determine the best channels to share your marketing messages consistently and frequently, you’ll create a habitual and memorable interaction. In addition to social media, consider trade magazines, networking events, conferences, radio, television, digital advertising, mailers and more. Remember, it often takes seeing a brand several times before someone decides to dip their toes into learning more about what you have to offer. Consistency + frequency = visibility. Here’s to being more visible to your ideal customer!

Michele Rempel is the founder and managing partner of Westvyne, a marketing and website design firm based in California and Illinois. For almost a decade, she and her team have been guiding their clients in what to say, how to say it, where to say it, and who to say it to in order to attract and retain customers. For more infor- mation about Westvyne, visit www.westvyne.com.