Finding Your Target Market
In order to develop an effective small business marketing strategy, you must first identify the right people to target. A solid understanding of your target market will save you money, increase your response rate, and generate a higher return on investment from your marketing efforts and is just plain smart small business management.
Prospects experience a range of business and personal pains and have different motivations for looking at your product. Your messaging should speak to those pains and motivations; a one-size-fits-all approach will not be effective.
There are two primary strategies that you can employ to reach your target market: PUSH or PULL.
A push strategy consists of:
- Singling out specific members of your target market by purchasing lists from list brokers or publications.
- Pushing your message to the target market through print advertising, banner ads, e-mail marketing, telemarketing, and direct mail campaigns.
- Seeking a direct response from these prospects to buy, not buy, or opt-in for nurturing campaigns.
A pull strategy consists of:
- Targeting a broad audience and allowing prospects to "self-qualify" themselves for your offer.
- Generating "buzz" about your company through PR, speaking engagements, online content syndication (blogs, forums, facebook, twitter), word of mouth, and referral programs.
- Developing a highly visible brand to pull buyers in and encourage them to learn more about you.
Both methods can drive excellent response rates, especially when used in tandem, but in a down economy, pull tactics are particularly effective for small business marketing. Why? Because right now, prospects are carefully managing their budgets and don't want to be "sold" to. Instead, they want access to valuable information that will help them make the right choice about where to spend their money.
So the best way to leverage the current market to your advantage is to make your website an oasis of knowledge that will pull prospects to you. It will pay off!
