If you’ve been keeping up with our blog then you already know how important it is to know your target market. Now we will discuss an example of indicative target marketing. This post will help you identify what facts are vital when researching details of your target audience.
Let me begin by sharing a portion of a different blog post that I read the other day. It’s on the topic of small business advertising spending during a recession. A piece of the article touched on target marketing and it said “If your current advertising is out of synch with where people are searching then clearly you need to address this immediately. For example, if you're a local hairdresser who knows that 80% of your customers come from within 10 miles of your salon and 50% of these customers are under the age of 40 then a color advertisement in your local Yellow Pages directory isn't going to be a great investment if most of these under 40's are searching online for local hairdressers.”
Now wait . . . go back! Read that again please. Did you catch the statistics regarding people under the age of 40 searching online for local hairdressers? Or any concrete evidence that those under 40 within 10 miles of the salon don’t use the Yellow Pages directory or don’t have one? That was a huge IF in the last sentence of their paragraph. The statement “. . . most of these under 40’s are searching online for local hairdressers,” isn’t necessarily wrong or misleading. It may even be fact. But, if it is a fact, there is no research evidencing the statement as fact. Therefore, it is merely an assumption.
Maybe the under 40 customers within 10 miles of the salon use the Penny Saver, the local newspaper or even the Val Pak mailers to find fulfillment for their hair care service needs? Maybe the percentage of those under 40 within 10 miles of the salon who use online searches is only 36%, those who frequent the weekly Penny Saver to look for and use salon coupons is 11% and 53% prefer word of mouth referrals from friends, family and co-workers when choosing a salon? It is key to know. Thus, working on a marketing strategy encompassing the referral process would be most beneficial to your salon.
Be attentive when presented with research and documentation from media companies, advertising agencies, search engine optimization specialists and marketing firms alike. Make sure that all the pieces of the puzzle are presented. Just one missing piece leaves the puzzle incomplete. And filling in the gap with other puzzle pieces (like assumptions about the target market) can leave you in the same predicament you were before: unwise advertising spenditures with little or no results.
On and off line marketing work together in synergy to reach potential customers. By no means, does that mean you need to do it all. It simply means start with an Integrated Marketing Plan from Vertical Insight. Let’s work together to achieve maximum ROI for your advertising budget. The plan will encompass critical details such as:
* Target market (who, how, when and where)
* Product(s) and/or service(s) (demand, off-season marketing strategies and seasonal strategies)
* Where and when promotional spending should take place to reach the target audience
Execute the marketing plan and start grabbing the customers you’ve been missing out on.
