Aim high but make sure you don't miss your mark!
Maybe you’re trying to impress new mothers who have virtually no time for themselves and very little sleep. Perhaps you have your sights set on middle-aged businessmen who seek luxurious lifestyles. Who you’re trying to impress depends entirely upon what sort of products or services you’re offering. The trouble is that it’s pretty easy to lose focus in trying to become desirable to everyone. Here is some valuable information on finding your target market.
What’s a Target Market?
If you’ve been in business for a while, you know that a target market is a group of people that are most likely to purchase your products or services. If you’re selling a weight loss pill, you might be targeting middle aged women who want to lose a few pounds. If you’re selling the most comfortable shoes ever – you might be targeting nurses or others who spend long hours on their feet. These are the people who need what you’re selling the most and who are probably more willing to buy it than anyone else.
Taking it a Step Further
Many businesses make the mistake of trying too hard to target a huge group of people – such as men, women, parents or people who own a car. When this happens, advertising and the message it carries becomes diluted. The thinking behind this is understandable; the more people you target, the higher the potential for sales, right? Wrong. Actually, if you send out a strong message to a highly targeted and smaller group – you will probably sell more. For instance, if you sell organic dog food to everyone who has a dog, you may get some people who are interested.
However, if you target eco-conscious people who own purebred dogs and get them regular vet checkups and grooming appointments, you will probably sell more. If you add that these people should be middle aged and financially stable, you will probably sell even more. The more targeted you get, the higher the potential of sales – if you’ve done the correct research and found the right group of interested individuals.
Give Them What They Want
Another important thing when it comes to target markets is giving them what they want. That market is seeking something – an easier solution, a time-saving product, etc. Give it to them. This is where market research becomes important. Find out who you’re selling to. Find out where they live, what kind of lives they lead, what they are seeking and what they’re settling for. Of course, you don’t need to become a stalker to do this – you can hire professional market researchers or perform the research yourself by visiting forums, sites, local events, etc.
While finding the target market may sound intimidating, it’s actually not. Look at who your major competitors are and the people they are going after. Perform market research and learn about the people you want to sell to. By doing this, your advertising dollars will be saved and your messages will pack a punch that customers can’t refuse.
Committing social marketing no-nos and don't even know it?
If you’re on the computer very often, you’ve almost certainly heard the terms ‘Web 2.0,’ ‘Social Marketing,’ and ‘Social Networking.’ In fact, they are a very important part of doing business online in today’s world. However, it seems that many business people and website owners aren’t quite sure what they should be doing in the Web 2.0 world.
Here are 5 things to avoid while taking advantage of social networking.
#5 – Do Not Neglect Your Social Networking ‘Friends’
These are the people you’ve added to your MySpace, Facebook, Digg or other social networking site. A lot of times, business or website owners will just add a ton of people in order to get their friend count up – and then ignore them. These are the people that will be voting for your site or blog. If they send a shout or recommend a page, take a serious look at it and let them know your thoughts.
This way, you can be sure that they will do the same when you send a page or a shout. Rather than adding a gazillion friends right off, look through the profiles and add friends who have similar interests as you. This will cut down on the chances of you getting pages or recommendations of things that you are not interested in at all.
#4 – Do Not Leave Generic Comments
When leaving comments on pages or blogs, read through the information and leave a comment that really adds to the conversation. If there’s one thing that irritates most social networkers, its comments like ‘nice post’ or ‘good job.’ What’s even worse is when you just get a little smiley face. Then you don’t know if they really even read the information.
Leave meaningful comments or comments that actually add some thought to the post. If you don’t have time, don’t leave a comment at all. Just return to the post later when you have a few minutes to actually comment in the correct way.
#3 – Don’t Get Too Personal
If you’re taking advantage of social networking sites in order to drive traffic to your business, you should maintain a professional image. Getting too personal is really not a good idea. I’ve read arguments, insults and some very colorful information while browsing through profiles and it’s not attractive. I kept thinking that I wouldn’t hire these businesses for anything – especially since they don’t know how to maintain professionalism in their own business.
If someone has written something that you don’t agree with, simply don’t comment. Or, comment in a professional way. Rather than telling the person how wrong and stupid they are, find something in their comments that you agree with. Then you can use a professional approach by telling them that you agree to an extent.
#2 – Never Post Something that Doesn’t Belong to You
People do it all the time – find an article that is well-written, remove the current links and add their own links back to their site. Never use someone else’s work at all without getting the proper permission. Not only does it make you look terrible in the online business world, but it is very illegal. Write your own content or hire a professional writer to do it for you.
#1 – No More Spam!
Do not spam your social networking friends with business information over and over again or leave spammy comments all over the place. This is one way to become quite unpopular in the social networking world. If you do it enough, you can even get your profile locked. There are ‘report this user’ buttons with each social marketing platform and since spam is the most annoying thing in the world, people will most likely report you. Only send valuable links or pages to people and never the same one more than once.
By avoiding these things in your social networking ventures, you can have a better chance of succeeding and really becoming a valuable and respected social networker.
Take the time to market within your own community.
Looking for new ways to market yourself? Become involved locally.
Image is all about perception, and if people see you as someone that cares about their local community, they will feel more inclined to deal with your business. Of course, make sure that you’re becoming involved for the right reasons – doing something with the sole intention of furthering your business is easily found out.
Some of the ways to give back to others include:
- Sponsor a local event or sports team.
- Offer yourself as a mentor for local school students.
- Build associations with worthy causes – cleaning up the local beach or park, for example.
Marketing yourself within your local surroundings will help define your business profile, whether your business is primarily an online or offline one. Once potential clients see your name in numerous areas, particularly if they’re areas that benefit others as well as you, then their natural inclination will be to do business with you. For this reason, marketing yourself is an essential and invaluable way to market your business effectively.
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