Digital Marketing can be so effective with accurate targeting.
Of course, every business should have a good idea of who your core customer base is, but have you brought that knowledge into your approach to marketing your business? Unfortunately, many small businesses neglect the very fundamentals of marketing. The three main activities of target marketing are segmenting, targeting and positioning. This strategy is a best practice prior to developing your products but is definitely a worthwhile activity if examining retrospectively.
To market your brand effectively you need to regularly identify your target market and adjust. Your target market is essentially the segment of the population who you are primarily aiming to sell your products directly to. This will aid the decision process when it comes to marketing your business. Throughout the segmentation process, you should aim to better understand your potential clients and deliver products that suit that niche in the market.
Although you may gain other customers and develop a market outside of your core customers, your digital marketing needs to be directed to the ones most likely to purchase your products or service. By identifying these targeting criteria, you may reduce the overall costs of advertising and have the potential for more accurate customer data. If segments are identified as possible new areas of developing, you should adopt different strategies for these separately.
How do I go about defining my target audience?
Although many small businesses believe they have the potential for more varied customers as they expand, growth is best achieved through measured targeting approaches and understanding the segmentation within your market. The targeting strategy involves segmenting the market, choosing which segments of the market are most appropriate, and determining the products that will be offered in each segment.
Typical segmentation starts with the basic demographic data, geographic data or psychographic criteria. To do this successfully, you need to crunch the numbers and do some qualitative and quantitative research. Try online research of databases, competitor analysis and of course your analytical data. If you are currently using Google Analytics or regularly advertising on Social Platforms, these tools will help gather basic targeting data of your customers.
Understanding the age and gender are the basic areas to start. You should also consider evaluating the social interests and behaviour characteristics of your ideal customers. This will help you build branding identity and communication strategies. The segment you identified generally think on the same lines and are inclined towards similar products within the category.
What do you do once you have gathered your customer profile?
Start thinking about positioning and the marketing message. The business must decide how it will best serve the selected customer segment. This will include positioning itself in the market and differentiating itself from other competitors. Why do your customers choose you over the competitors? Make this differentiation as clear as possible. Is it your price, features, customer service or product quality?
With the benefit of this targeting data, digital marketing can be used with increased efficiency. Building a detailed customer profile enables brands to cater to their strategies for varied audiences. One advertisement may be suitable for one of your typical customers with a contracting advertisement or content more suitable for a different potential customer. Your online advertising strategy [1] is highly influenced by this data.
Will this target marketing actually make a difference to my business?
Effective targeting strategies allow for better-performing content enabling better conversions. This will also allow you to better analyse the current market performance through data analysis. Future forecasting is also more accurate when you have a deeper understanding of your customers.
With greater insights into customers behaviours through digital segmentation, marketers can create accurate forecasts and predictive modelling for their campaigns. The result is highly targeted and relevant campaigns, leading to higher conversions and greater customer satisfaction for your brand. This will influence your keyword research and affect your SEO strategy [2].
With a greater understanding of the preferences and behaviour of your customers, you now need to take strategic decisions that can influence buying patterns. A modern approach with data analysis allows maximum value for your business marketing. The way we live rapidly evolving, with segmentation data becoming more sophisticated and complex. Political, economic and technological shifts are reflected in the socio-economics, lifestyles and the behaviours of your customer base.
Talk with our Team today to help get your digital marketing performing effectively. Let us know what you thought in the comments below or share it across your favourite social platforms.
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