Small Business 911 – Target Marketing

My definition of a successful business is – a business that provides a vehicle for the business owner to express in the world what makes them happy.  It expresses their unique gifts and talents, and provides the means to create the lifestyle they long for in their heart and soul.

As a business owner, one of the most critical factors in building a successful business is making sure the right people, your ideal customers, know what you have to offer.  So, one of the first questions you need to answer is, who is your ideal client?   Taking the time to answer this question can make the difference between a struggling and a thriving business. 

Here are five competitive advantages you will have by taking the time to determine who your ideal clients are and how you can best reach them. 

1. The ability to market your products and services effectively.  If you don’t know who you’re serving, you won’t know the best advertising venues to utilize.  For example, if your preferred client is 25 – 35 years old, you would choose a very different marketing approach than you would if your preferred client was 45 – 55.

   If you decided to place an ad in a magazine, or online publication, to reach clients who are 25 – 40 years old, you might choose Cosmopolitan or Working Mother or New Lifestyle Magazine.  If you were targeting 45 – 60 year old clients, you might place an ad in AARP or Grandparents Magazines. 

2. Getting a clearer vision of where your company belongs in the market place.  Take home buyers for example.  New home buyers have very different needs than retirees looking to downsize.  You would use a different marketing strategy in both cases.  New home buyers may be thinking in terms of space for a family.  Retirees may be ready to downsize, so they have less maintenance time and more fun and recreation time. 

 

3. Helping you create targeted marketing materials.  When you address one person, or group, who represents your ideal client it’s easier to connect with them and find the right words that will inspire them to respond to your marketing campaigns.   For example, the verbiage and images you use to reach a real estate agent is very different than the words you would use to communicate with corporate executives or a small, home-based business owner.

 

4.  Saving money on marketing and advertising.  Using bulk mail to send out a flyer to your neighborhood, not knowing if they have a need for your product or service is what we call the “spray and pray” marketing method.  This can be very costly and yield little in the way of results.  Utilizing a list service such as © SRDS (Standard Rate and Data Service) can help you find your ideal client and target them in your direct mailing campaigns, saving you hundreds of dollars in mailing costs.

 

5. Setting yourself apart from your competition by finding out and providing what your clients want.  Here’s an example.  In the current economy, there are very few people who want to build new homes.  There are many people, however, who want to remodel their current home.  If a builder is  still creating brochures and ads promoting their home building skills, they’re going to get very few calls.  However, if they have brochures showcasing their remodels and additions, they’re likely to get much more interest. 

Knowing who your ideal client is will help you decide how your gifts and talents can best benefit them, and it will help you determine what new skills you may need to develop to compete in the current marketing conditions.  But most of all, it can help you boost your bottom line and have a healthy, profitable business.

Marketing 411 – Tweeting Doctors…

Since social media came on the scene, it’s much easier to keep in touch with family and friends.  It’s like a family reunion online!  Suddenly we’re getting messages, pictures, and even videos from people we haven’t heard from in years.  But powerful social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Linkedin are not just for fun and entertainment.  They have become an important part of businesses’ marketing strategies.

This was reported in The Stockton Record newspaper (www.recordnet.com) recently:

In the waiting room, the patient’s family members circled a Blackberry.  About every 15 minutes, Dr. Carlos of Miami Plastic Surgery gave them a few keystrokes of information about how the patient was doing.

“M is asleep,” one of Wolf’s nurses typed at 9:13 am on June 3.  “We will start surgery soon.”

Less than an hour later, the nose job was complete.

“Beautiful,” the nurse typed.  “She’s going to love it.”

This is just one example of how doctors around the country are beginning to use social media tools as a way to keep in touch with families and reduce the fear factor of surgeries.

Social media is still in its infancy stages, and will continue growing as more people and businesses dream up ways to use it in their lives and professions.   Just imagine getting daily tweets and/or quick direct Facebook status updates from your contractor, plumber, realtor, attorney, CPA, etc., etc.   In the current economic climate, social media can easily be used as a way to communicate more closely with your clients - and set your business apart from the competition.

How can social media be used in your business?  Be sure and stay tuned as the NAMC presents social media experts teaching you the ins and outs about Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, YouTube, and more in 2010!