Niche Marketing + Direct Marketing…a match made in heaven!

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!