A significant problem with tightly targeting your audience
August 24, 2007
I’ve often sung the praises of tightly targeting your niche market as a way to create effective and compelling marketing messages. However, I must point out that I am making a HUGE assumption with this advice: I’m assuming you’re offering a quality product or service.
In "Yet another way to piss off your customers" I tell the story of my friend who purchased a product that was exquisitely marketed but poorly produced. Her wrath at being "taken" has spurred her to make it her current mission to discredit the product to everyone she meets. While I am not a potential customer for the product in question (it is tightly targeted towards single women), her unsolicited review to me would dissuade me from purchasing it.
While I am not included in the target audience, MANY of my friend’s other acquaintances are single women who ARE potential prospects for this product though. While the internet is indeed a BIG market, I can not for the life of me understand why anyone would make a promise in their marketing materials that they had no intention of delivering.
Satisfied customers are not exactly the BEST source of business because, when they’re satisfied they tend to tell 2 or 3 people about their good experience. On the other hand, customers who feel they’ve been abused are likely to tell 16 people about their horrible experience…. and that doesn’t factor in the "internet" effect… where those 16 friends may choose to share this one horror story.
There’s no way to make EVERYONE happy especially in business. However, when you’re tightly targeting a market it’s best to not make promises you have no intention of keeping. Doing so tends to anger your customers…. who know other potential customers or worse yet… are active bloggers with a huge audience.
Getting your message to stand out in a crowded marketplace….
August 21, 2007
Carol Solomon on her Double Your Coaching Practice blog says it and makes it short, sweet and to the point:
With people crippled under the weight of so much information, you really need to stand out from the crowd.
What makes you different?
What are your unique skills?
You MUST be able to articulate this in your marketing materials and in your conversations with clients.
Whether you’re a coaching professional, a therapist (Carol’s target audience), a CPA, a realtor or an attorney, these questions are ESSENTIAL to creating compelling marketing messages for your practice.
See, people are being bombarded with information each and every day. In order to remain somewhat sane, they have to FILTER those incoming messages. Just as the ride at the amusement park has a sign with a note, "You must be THIS tall to ride this ride"…. your wonderful brain has a similar filter which says, "You must be talking about THIS list of subjects before I’ll take notice!"
It’s scary for many service professionals to tightly target their audience and focus on a niche marketing message. They want to make sure EVERYONE has the opportunity to hire them… however without tightly targeting a niche, they’ll find the phone rarely rings. By tightly targeting your niche market, and creating messages that break through the filters of the mind… you CAN reach people who want and need what you’re offering!
Niche Marketing + Direct Marketing…a match made in heaven!
August 17, 2007
One of the real "blessings" to targeting a niche market is how easily and effectively you can reach the members of your target audience. However, I’ve found a LOT of my clients have a really hard time wrapping their brains around the tightly targeted niche marketing concept.
One client was determined that his "niche" market was small business owners. We kept going around and around as I struggled to communicate the essence of niche marketing. My client was DETERMINED that small business owners was a niche market while I was equally adamant that small business owners is NOT an example of a tightly targeted niche. It wasn’t until I took him down the path of direct marketing or DIRECT MAIL LISTS that I was able to illustrate my point.
In this client’s case, I asked him to price direct mail lists to deliver his message. Ah, there’s no better "wake up call" than paying for the contact information of those you want to reach with your advertising message!
Even though we were building a web site, he still needed to view his choice of "niche market" through the direct mail lense for an effective illustration of how tightly he had narrowed his choice of target customers.
I was able to show my client that if he would tightly define his target, it would be much less "expensive" to send out a direct mail piece if he would tightly target his audience. For example, rather than target the very BROAD market of "small business owners" he could invest in a more targeted list, such as "chiropractors" or "accountants." Because each of those "categories" are included under the very BROAD heading of "business owners"…. he would be reaching those target customers with his very broad "small business" designation but he’d also be reaching a lot of other small business owners as well.
The beauty of direct mail is it allows you to tightly target a specific market better than any other advertising medium. Because you’ve decided in advance who gets your message, when the message will arrive, and where they’ll be when they get it, you can tightly target your message and DRAMATICALLY increase it’s effectiveness.
Combining direct mail with the web is still undiscovered territory for MANY small business owners. Many small business owners would rather venture into the very trendy direct marketing medium known as Google Adwords than trudge through the dull and boring world of direct mail marketing.
It’s important to note that the same elements that create success in a direct mail marketing campaign are the EXACT SAME ELEMENTS that create success with Google Adwords. As anyone who has dipped an uneducated toe into the Google Adwords waters can attest… a poorly planned Google Adwords advertising campaign can be some of the most EXPENSIVE advertising known to small business owners!
Niche Marketing Defined
August 15, 2007
Niche marketing is a favorite topic on the internet. It’s a highly competitive keyword for good reason. Word is out that defining your target market as narrowly as possible is an essential KEY to marketing success.
Over two decades ago, Joan Elias, the founder of the regional advertising agency Business Development, took me in (actually, she hired me… but in hindsight I view it as ‘taking me in") and taught me the key to developing successful marketing messages. She taught me that the KEY to successful advertising was to tightly target your audience and create a marketing message that "broke through" the clutter. While other, less tightly targeted, messages were being "filtered" by the human brain, the tightly targeted messages we were creating were making an impact on listener’s/viewer’s behavior. What a happy day it was for our clients when the actually began to see a positive impact on the bottom line as a result of our tightly targeted marketing messages!
Enter the internet and, over time, the value of Niche Marketing has been discovered. It didn’t take long for web site developers and SEO experts to discover that by tightly targeting their marketing message they increased the effectiveness of their web message. The reason was simple: Log files don’t lie. It’s one thing to run an ad on television and have it not produce results. It’s easy to delude yourself and explain away the dismal failure. It’s quite another thing to look at your log files and see that 100,000 people visited a web site and did NOTHING! OUCH!
As a result, many web developers have embraced the Niche Marketing concept… however sometimes the explanations get too simple. For example Webene says:
To be absolutely positive about what isn’t a niche market product, go to any big box store. If they carry it, it is not a niche product. For the most part, niche markets are too small for big companies to bother.
Um… I have to disagree with the statement … "If they {a big box retailer} carry it, it is not a niche product." because there are certainly a number of ‘niche market’ items being carried by big box retailers. However, while big box retailers may be carrying niche market items, they truly can NOT compete when it comes to knowledge and expert advice.
For example, Walmart, Dick’s Sporting Goods and the Sports Authority all carry soccer gear. They even carry a limited selection of cleats, soccer shin guards…even a few soccer training items.
However, if you want expert advice on soccer equipment … I don’t recommend going to any "big box" retailer or even to a "category killer"…. instead you need to visit your local soccer store. While you might be able to pick up a pair of cleats at a big box retailer, you’ll never get the personal attention of an EXPERT there. Instead, you need to visit the local specialists store…. the one which is targeting soccer players as their niche market.
When we lived in Indiana, it was the Soccer House in Fort Wayne, while here in Port Saint Lucie, Florida the local specialists store is called PK’s Soccer. In either case, whether you wanted expert advice in which cleat to purchase or you simply wanted to know when league sign ups began, the only place to go was to visit the local specialist’s store. It’s where the serious players went for equipment not to mention their coaches and league officials.
So while you may find a few "niche marketing" items at a big box retailer, what you won’t find is the SERVICE… the additional advice which is only available from someone who eats/drinks/sleeps the niche market.
While it’s true that most niche markets are too small for the big box retailers to target, more often than not you’ll find the big box retailers taking a half - hearted swipe at competing in the niche market. They’ll carry an item or two, but they don’t have the depth and breadth of product, not to mention the skilled staff, to truly compete in the niche.
Niche Marketing lessons from an undersized basketball team….
August 13, 2007
This blog’s target audience is small business owners… the Davids who are out there slugging it out with the Goliaths every day.
If you’re a small business owner who has heard that niche marketing is THE KEY to developing successful marketing messages, you’re in the right place. It’s true, targeting a niche market is THE KEY to creating successful marketing messages. Be developing a niche marketing strategy, you’ll find your small business winning even when you go up against the "big boys".
When we lived in Indiana, my oldest son played on the basketball team of a very small private Christian school. The year he was in 8th grade, he found himself the sole 8th grader on his team. Fortunately, the rules allowed these tiny micro-schools to allow 6th graders to play because otherwise his team wouldn’t have had enough players to compete. In addition to the fact that my son was the only 8th grader, he was also the only team member taller than 5′ 6". Most of his team mates (which he referred to as his"little buddies") hadn’t even broken the 5′ mark…. which meant the team was CONSTANTLY thrust into "David vs Goliath" battles on a regular basis.
Bob Zurkle was the brave coach of this team. His leadership not only lead to his undersized team to win as many games as they lost (something NO ONE thought possible when the team stepped onto the floor for each and every game) he took them to the State Championship where they were narrowly defeated in the semi-finals. To say it was a Cinderella season would be an understatement.
Which brings us to how Bob Zurkle was able to achieve this feat and beat the odds… with a team that lacked size and at the beginning of the season, lacked skill AND experience. Bob didn’t coach his team to "hit the boards" and get rebounds… (my son was the ONLY one on the team who even had a CHANCE at a rebound). Instead, Bob coached the little team to play to their strength. Since they didn’t HAVE a strength at the beginning, he created one….. the three point shot.
One of the 6th grade players on the team was a 4′ 9" dynamo whom Bob taught to hit the three point shot. This little guy was so tiny, he couldn’t GET the ball to the net with proper form… so he developed his own "shot put" style of shooting which would launch the ball with enough force to reach the net. Every day in practice, that tiny player would spend time perfecting his three point shot.
Remember, these are Junior High players. Most of their opponents did not HAVE anything in their play books to counter what Bob cooked up for his team. His tiny players would bob in and out from under the net, passing the ball with military precision and when the opportunity was right, the 4′ 9" dynamo would shoot…. scoring on 2 out of 3 of his attempted shots. Without exception, fans from the other team in the stands would chuckle when he set up to take the shot…and would cheer when he made the first one. It gave me chills each and every time he made a shot during the season!
Remember, as a small business owner, YOU may not be able to compete with the Big Boys…. whether it’s the Big Box Retailers…. or other giants in your industry. But your lack of size DOES give you the ability to manuever in ways the big players wish they could.
Your lack of size means you’re there on the front lines, listening to what your customers are saying. You don’t have to filter this information through a myriad of different levels of management…. each editing the comments to make sure THEIR DEPARTMENT isn’t held responsible. You’re there to hear them say, "Gee, I’d like it if this came in red." You’re there to hear them say, "I wish I had help with this."
Play to your strengths! Lack of size can be a GREAT asset! As a matter of fact, if you’re a big player you’ll probably find you CAN NOT compete with a small nimble player when it comes to targeting a niche market.
Talk to your customers…. listen…. and you’ll find they’re HAPPY to tell you what you can do to serve them, and others like them, better. And THAT is the beauty of niche marketing for the small business owner and what allows you to beat the big boys at their game on a regular basis.
4 Essential Elements for Marketing Success
August 3, 2007
Some people will tell you that advertising is the key to business success. I wish that simple because then my job would be INFINITELY easier!
In his book HOW TO BECOME A MARKETING SUPERSTAR: UNEXPECTED RULES THAT RING THE CASH REGISTER
Remember, marketing includes all activities involved in transferring goods and services from you to your customers. Advertising is just one piece of that complicated puzzle.
Just as advertising can work for you or against you, so can all of your other marketing activities. An effective advertising campaign that promotes a business with shoddy product or lousy customer service will merely hasten that business’ demise.
Success won’t happen overnight, but it will happen when you pay attention to each of the four factors essential for your business to succeed:
- Your businesses strengths and weaknesses.
In marketing speak, you’ll hear a lot about doing a SWOT analysis (SWOT: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) This is the fancy name give to your analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of not only your business, but also the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors. Many, many business people tend to overlook doing a strengths and weaknesses analysis on their competitors, perhaps because they feel that their competitor’s strengths and weaknesses are factors over which it appears they have no control. While you may not be able to control your competitor’s delivery of goods and services, you do have absolute control over where you position yourself in relation to your strongest competitor.For example, four decades ago it appeared that Hertz was doing it all and doing it all well in the car rental world. They were faster, cheaper and better than everyone else. Then Avis launched their “We try harder” campaign and now forty short years later, being number two still looks pretty darn inviting. Without creating, exposing or exploiting a competitor’s flaw, Avis perfectly positioned itself as the “underdog” and willing to “try harder” to win your business. The rest is history.
- Your business strategy.
This is the “opportunity” part of a SWOT analysis. (SWOT: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) It’s where you make sure you’re not trying to sell ice cubes to Eskimos. If you’re Avis, it’s where you decide that because you’re number two, your employees can’t afford not to be nice.
- Day to day operations.
This is truly where the rubber meets the road. It’s where you deliver on the promise you make to the customer via your advertising. It is one thing for Avis to promote friendly, efficient service but it’s another to actually deliver upon that promise.Day to day operations factors include, but are not limited to:
- How the phone is answered.
- How product is displayed in your store.
- How customers are treated.
- How complaints are handled.
- How long customers wait to check out.
- How staff interacts with customers.
- Whether products advertised are in stock.
- Your marketing message.
This is where you develop a marketing plan, create effective advertising materials and choose the right media to carry the message to your target market. It’s fourth on the list for a reason. Fail at the first three areas, but succeed at the fourth and your marketing message or advertising will only hasten your business’s inevitable demise.
Whether or not the increased customer traffic that results from your effective advertising leads to a healthy bottom line is up to your execution of the rest of your business model.
I’ve written a step by step plan to create marketing success for your business in my book Beyond the Niche: Essential Tools You Need to Create Marketing Messages that Deliver Results
Go BIG… Be Bold… and Give Most of it Away….
August 2, 2007
It’s no secret that there are literally MILLIONS of web pages out there, competing for the same sets of eyeballs that you desperately want to come and read your web site or blog.
In a nutshell, there are two keys to successful marketing (or blogging):
1) Be Bold
Copy Blogger, a blog dedicated to the instruction of writers and wanna be writers instructs audiences to GO BIG OR GO HOME.
There is no room at the top for the timid blogger. There are millions of voices raised and the only way to get yours to stand out is to NOT blend in, in perfect harmony. On the contrary, sometimes it takes a bold statement to get noticed.
One of my favorite comics is Calvin and Hobbes. In Scientific Progress Goes ‘Boink’: A Calvin and Hobbes Collection
"KNIFE WILDING MOTHER HACKS ICHTHYOID! GRIM MELEE IS EVENING RITUAL! SUBURBAN FAMILY DEVOURS VICTIM!"
That is SO much more interesting than "Family of Three Enjoys Fish Dinner."
Remember, being bold sells better than being timid.
2) Give Most of it Away
Being bold isn’t enough. Going Big and being Bold will get the eyeballs directed your way… you then have to sell those eyeballs. In order to sell the eyeballs you have to gain their trust and respect…. and the way to do that is to give MOST of what you’re offering away.
That’s right…. give it away. Spider Secret does a great job of illustrating it in his post So What if you give most of it away
In it, Sean shares the following:
I found out the age-old concept of the bikini to apply. That by giving away 90% of the concept, and keeping 10%, the attraction factor was just as strong, if not twice as strong (there are reasons for me saying ‘twice as strong). And yes, what the bikini didn’t reveal, was the part the audience most wanted (naturally), and was the part they were willing to pay for.
Go big… be bold and give enough away for your readers to recognize that you really DO have the answers.
