Belated, Happy New Year to you all!
I love this time of year, it is a great time to take stock and think about what you want to achieve for the new year ahead and set or review your Marketing Strategy for your business. What do you want to achieve this year? Where do you want to take your business? How do you want to grow? And how are you going to get there? All great questions to be asking.
Identifying and defining your target audience is something we spend a lot of time on when we build a Marketing Strategy. And so often people don’t really think about it or spend any time looking at it. Why is it important? Well, because it is the basis of everything. Once you know who your target audience is you can develop appropriate creative, which resonates with them – thus meaning they are more likely to purchase your product or service; or choose the right media that they are going to engage with.
I had a really satisfying moment recently, when in a new client brainstorm through debate and discussion with the team we realised that the way they had been approaching their potential clients was totally opposite to the way this audience wanted to be spoken to. They were taking to their potential clients with a very maverick, new, innovation approach tone of voice when in reality their target audience were very risk adverse and needing to be reassured and supported. I love moments like this and is a part of my role I really enjoy.
Once you know who your target audience is, it also helps you guide what media to feature in. If you wish to target an 30yr +female audience with a family then you know that Facebook or local media such as Families Magazine, The Little Book or Grapevine magazines may well be a good place to be promoting your product or service, because this is who reads and engages with these media. Your objectives also help guide which media you use. I am a big fan of radio to help achieve cut through and stand out but you would probably not choose this media if you wanted to just drive sales, but more if you wanted to drive awareness of your product or service. Unless of course you coupled this up with other media support eg: emails or social media support.
Historically it would have been easier to practically segment your target audience as an ABCI demographic, location, Male/ Female and list a number of brands that your audience engage with. This is fairly logical, but the element which will set you apart from your competition is then identifying an attitude or golden nugget of information which will help you to tonally appeal to audience more effectively. This is the difficult bit and something which takes time to work out.
Those businesses which put the customer at the heart of everything they do will be the ones which succeed in today’s world, offering relevant content, the best customer service and that personal touch. As individuals we are totally bombarded with promotional messages on a daily if not hourly basis and to appeal to your audience in a relevant way will achieve the cut through and results you are looking for.
If you would like to spend some time reviewing your Marketing Strategy and further understanding your customer I would love to hear from you. I offer a FREE 60-minute consultation for any new clients.
Please email me at: sophie@rimumarketing.co.uk, to find out more!
Wishing you a busy and focused January!
