As a business owner, you are always looking for ways to grow your company. At the same time, you do not have unlimited funds for your marketing budget. As a result, you know you have to create marketing campaigns that will help bring in as many new customers as possible.
In order to do this as efficiently as you can, it is important to figuratively take aim at a specific target market. Of course, in order to do this, you have to first define your audience before reaching out to them and enticing them to give your company a try.
With all of this in mind, the following tips will help you to find, reach and convert your target audience:
Who Are Your Customers?
Trying to target a specific market does not mean you are ignoring those who do not fit into that niche. Rather, it will allow you to focus your marketing dollars on a group of people who are most likely to buy your products and services. Start by looking at your current group of customers and why they buy from you. Look for things they have in common like interests and characteristics; once you have this information it is likely that people who are like them would also like to do business with you. You can also check out your competition to see who they are targeting with their ads—then go after a different market. In addition, try to think about the “psychographics” of your niche audience—this includes their lifestyles, hobbies and personality and determine how your product will fit into all of these things.
How to Reach Your Targeted Group
Once you have a good idea of who you are targeting with your marketing campaigns, it will become much easier to determine how you can best reach them and what messages they will want to hear about your products and services. This will help you to avoid the “one size fits all” approach to marketing and really hone in on your specific niche. Sending ads to certain zip codes is a great place to start. In addition, social media is an ideal way to reach new customers—for instance, the vast majority of adults are on platforms like Facebook and so if you can create a group that centers around your business and offer plenty of information about what your company does, it can be an effective way to reach new customers.
How to Convert Your Target Audience
One of the best ways to convert your targeted niche is to address any possible concerns that customers may have about your company and then explain why these issues are unfounded. If you are a smaller business that provides catering services, you might explain that while you realize people may not believe you can handle larger events with your smaller staff, show photos on social media of big weddings, graduation parties and other events that you were hired for, and explain that you focus on one client at a time rather than spreading yourself too thin.
A company that has handled this scenario in an expert way is Amway. Often direct sales companies are labeled as pyramid schemes. Instead of ignoring these concerns, Amway has taken the proverbial bull by the horns by answering specific questions about its business model, proving that the organization sets its Independent Business Owners up for success.
Enjoy an Uptick in Customers and Sales
Marketing definitely involves more than waving an imaginary magic wand and hoping new customers will notice. It takes time and effort to identify who to target and—just as importantly—who not to include in a marketing campaign. By determining your most likely audience, reaching out to them via social media and addressing any concerns people are likely to have about your company, you should see an increase in both your number of clients and your profits.
