Are you targeting a specific audience in your marketing campaigns?

An interesting postcard showed up in my mailbox this week from a gym in my area. The headline and photos on the postcard advertised the gym’s child care facility where members can drop off their kids while they workout. Sounds like a great amenity that many people would want to take advantage of! There is just one problem- I don’t have any children. This postcard has no relevance to me as the receiver, so my first instinct is to throw the postcard in the trash.

With the exception of the kid friendly focus, the gym actually had a really great marketing piece. The postcard had wonderful graphic design and was aesthetically pleasing, it had a unique offer to use a temporary pass to visit the gym with no membership obligation, and it had a call to action that I needed to call a toll-free number to obtain my complimentary visitors pass.

The problem with this mailer is that it did not reach its intended target audience of a gym seeker with children. After further examination, I also noticed that the postcard was addressed to “current resident” which tells me that this gym has no clue who I am and is probably mailing to every address in my area.

The underlying issue is that this gym did not do their research. Without good data, and a good list, your great offer/messaging/design will fall on deaf ears. Even a really bad marketing piece sent to the right target market can earn results, but a great marketing piece sent to the wrong target market will earn no results.

Identify Your Target Audience

Identifying your target market is easy. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Who buys from you?
• What do they buy?
• When do they buy?
• Where are they located?
• What are their buying habits?
• What are your customer demographics? Consider age, gender, lifestyle, family, residency, income level, etc.

Cookie Cutter Marketing Doesn’t Work

Don’t try to generalize you marketing to fit all of these demographics or assume that one type of marketing strategy will work for everyone (like the gym postcard). You need to market to all of these audiences differently as every audience has different needs and preferences.

Bianca Te Rito, contributing author for She Takes on the World, said it best when she blogged that, “It is a big mistake in online personal branding (or any branding for that matter) to try to be all things to all people.  If you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one”.

I agree with Te Rito that we cannot try to approach all audiences in the same. My experience confirms that many people try to create cookie cutter marketing strategies that can apply to everyone, but this just simply will not work.

Instead of sending everyone in the area a postcard advertising their child care services, this gym could have greatly benefited from three distinct mini campaigns.

One could have targeted parents of young children with the messaging and imagery that was in the original postcard.

Another could target young adults with photos of young, good looking, fit individuals and the gym’s state of the art equipment.

Another could have targeted active seniors by showing images of the diverse ages present at the gym and perhaps advertise senior friendly group fitness classes.

Cost

The first reaction I get when I suggest three mini campaigns to my clients is that it must be more expensive to do three mini campaigns than one campaign, but this is not necessarily true. It costs just as much to mail 3,000 of the child care post cards as it would to mail 1,000 child care, 1,000 young adult, and 1,000 senior target postcards. If you have customer data on file, and you probably do, than you might not need to buy multiple mailing lists. If the only design variations in your postcards are images and a headlines then the graphic design charges for three postcards will not be that much more than the one.

Target audience and good data are key a successful marketing campaign. Don’t just spray and pray for success. Having a clear marketing strategy target towards a specific audience will increase response rates exponentially.

Amanda Moore

www.piptampa.com

The Latest Mobile Marketing Application

Today, your customers and prospects are becoming more mobile and depending on their smart phone devices more and more as sources of information. Utilizing a QR Code in your marketing materials will give you an opportunity to reach out to your mobile customers and prospects in a new and efficient way!

What is a QR Code?

A QR Codes is a two dimensional bar code that can be printed on any marketing materials to link printed materials to mobile and Internet marketing efforts. QR Codes can be easily programmed to communicate several types of information. After the receiver scans the QR Code with their smart phone, the bar code will automatically prompt the user‘s phone to launch a website, play a video, automatically enter contact information into contact list, send an email, send a text message, or make a phone call. QR Codes are completely customizable and the possibilities are truly endless. Most importantly, they are trackable and we are able to see how many individuals scanned a specific QR Code and when. This trackability makes QR Codes a valuable (and affordable) response tracking mechanism for all marketing materials.

How does it work?

1. Use a smart phone with Internet access.
2. Download a free bar code reader app (see bottom of article for app suggestions).
3. Scan or take a picture of the QR Code with the reader app.
4. Phone will automatically launch the code’s message or feature.

How to use a QR Code

What can QR Codes do for you?

QR Codes are basically an image, just like any other graphic, and can be placed on any and all marketing materials such as: business cards, fliers, brochures, promotional items, t-shirts, car wraps, signs, posters, direct mail, print ads, and more! They can be used alone to drive traffic to a website or along with a personalized URL or coupon offer to increase response rates. They allow you to:

• Increase response rates (almost anyone who knows about this technology finds it difficult to resist scanning the bar codes).
• Measure the effectiveness of your campaign; different QR Codes can be generated for each individual project and tracked.
• Integrate print, mobile, and Internet marketing with three “touch points” in one printed item.
• Plus, you will be on the cutting edge of a marketing strategy that is still relatively new in the United States.

More Information:

For more information use your smart phone to scan the QR Code at the top of the page (if you need to download an app see the suggestions at the end of this article). If you do not have a smart phone but are still interested in learning more, just click on the QR Code at the top of the page.

Go ahead, give it a try!

QR Code Reader Suggestions

(all apps are free and linked to the image, just click the logo)

iTunes App Store (our favorite is i-nigma)

Cut through the clutter and get your customer's attention!

Keeping in touch with your customers regularly is a vital part of growing your business. How meaningful is the contact you typically have with them?

Regularly blasting your customer or prospect with spam emails promoting yourself, your business, or your special this month is not meaningful-in fact, it can be downright annoying. In an over populated marketing environment we must try to cut through the clutter and stand out with constant meaningful contact.
What do I mean by meaningful contact? Content that is meaningful to your customer not just bombarding them with self promotion…but it is possible to do both.

After you put together what you feel is a brilliant marketing campaign there is still the possibility that the phone won’t ring. It is said that it takes anywhere from 7-10 touch points to reel a prospect in, so it is important that you keep your brand in front of your prospect without overloading them with spam and junk mail-this is where constant meaningful contact comes into play.

Hand written notes or letters are a personalized touch that your customers will appreciate. Hand written notes are a lost art that will set you apart from your competition. They can be utilized as a short thank you note or a card to check in on them from time to time.

Hand written notes and letters take up some time, especially if you are trying to reach a large number of customers at a time. This is when variable print is most effective. Imbedding customer variables in the content of your direct mailer, letter, or email will feel less like a mass marketing piece and can give a more meaningful appeal. Variables can include the customer’s name, company name, images, or even a product or service that you think they might be specifically interested in.

If you are looking to really make a long lasting impression, take the time to get to know your customers and send them things they may be interested in. Send them newspaper clippings or email them a link to an online publication that is highlighting their specific industry or hobby. Include a personalized note or email message just to tell them you saw this and thought of them.

I myself send out monthly newsletters to my customers. This newsletter is not filled with self promoting information but rather useful business and marketing tips that could benefit every business or industry. It is another way for us to get face time with our customer but it is also filled with valuable content that they can enjoy and utilize.

Think of ways to promote your business in a way that will appeal to your customers. Your marketing should be useful to your customer and not seem like blind advertising. Think outside the box and personalize the message to suit the needs of your target market. When in doubt think to yourself: “If someone sent this to me, would I care enough to read it?”

Amanda Moore

www.piptampa.com