What’s a better marketing strategy, going after the general population or niching down to a specific audience? If you’ve been in marketing for any length of time, you know consumer targeting is the best strategic approach.
There are countless reasons why consumer targeting works:
- It’s a more efficient use of your marketing budget and resources. Broad outreach means you’re throwing money at a wider, undefined net that leaves many hidden opportunities. Narrow down your approach, and you ensure every dollar spent on marketing tactics is directed at people most likely to be interested in your offerings.
- It helps refine your message to resonate better with your targeted audience. Messages can be crafted to connect with your target demographics’ specific needs, interests, values, and motivations. Get to the heart of what matters most to your audience.
- It drives better engagement and conversion rates. You’re in business to make money. Why not make every dollar spent on marketing more efficient? A Forrester Research report found that companies that nurture leads generate 50 percent more sales-ready leads at a 33 percent lower cost. When your message resonates with viewers, it means better open rates, click-through rates, lead generation, and sales conversions.
And this is just the beginning. As you know, marketing is a vast science with many nuances. Consumer targeting is no different, with many different types depending on who you’re targeting and why.
- Demographic: Targeting based on age, gender, income, and education level.
- Geographic: Tailoring your marketing efforts to specific cities, regions, states, or countries.
- Behavioral: Understanding how people behave online, what they like, what they browse for, what they buy.
- Psychographic: Diving into their lifestyle, values, and what they’re thinking.
- Lookalike: Reaching new prospects that mirror your existing customers.
Think this could change your marketing forever?
Consumer Targeting Strategies for Better Lead Generation
Marketing is about lead generation. The more qualified your leads, the more conversions for your products or services, and the more profitable your business becomes. Consumer targeting means you can fill your sales pipeline with highly qualified prospects more easily. Effective strategies include:
Building Better Buyer Personas
Do you know who your target audience is? Have you developed buyer personas in detail? This goes beyond static phrases like “married women” or “families with kids.” This involves developing a detailed picture of every type of client you service. You can do that based on demographics, interests, pain points, and buying behaviors.
Keyword research is a great way to identify different customer segments. Using online research tools, you can start analyzing online behavior. Find out how people search for you on Google. See how they move around your website. Then, create customer journey paths, helping your audience learn more about what you do. The hungrier those leads are, the more you can lead them to your sales funnel.
Find Niched Influencers
Sometimes, the best path to more prospects is partnering with people with a similar audience. Influencer marketing continues to grow as it connects people who want to grow their audience, like you, with people who already have one.
What social media platforms work for you? Have you had success with Instagram, LinkedIn, or YouTube? Consider working with influencers who are already there, communicating with an audience ready and waiting for what you offer.
Don’t get stuck thinking about the heavy hitters in the industry. There are many ways to reach micro-influencers with smaller, more niche followings. Their audiences are often more dedicated to the influencer and are interested in specific things. A win-win for you and the influencer you work with.
Reengage Delayed Shoppers
Do you track how many people abandon purchases in your shopping cart system? What if you could reengage people to come back and finish the sale? This is an excellent use of consumer targeting campaigns. You simply include systems that track accounts that are lost or closed in later stages, then reach out and reengage them.
We have many ways to retarget your audience. It’s about gently reminding them of what you offer and the benefits of completing the sale. These people are already familiar with who you are and what you sell. Simple modifications to your sales process can reengage them to make your sales process even more profitable.
Upsell Based on Purchases
What people buy is indicative of their interests. Why not leverage that knowledge and use it to suggest more products or services? It’s a process that started back with burger joints asking, “Would you like fries with that?” But today, it works effectively with digital marketing.
You already have their trust. Upselling is about capitalizing on that trust and giving them more of what they want. This starts by considering all the products or services you sell, then pairing them with each other for a more complete experience. It’s suggestions, little nudges directing them toward new ideas. It’s an easy way to boost your sales pipeline and keep happy clients.
Revive Past Relationships
We all mean to “keep in touch” with existing customers. But it’s an easy thing to let fall to the wayside when you’re busy bringing new customers in. If they aren’t actively buying, why sell to them?
Yet this is your easiest segment to reach. They already like what you do and understand your sales process. Even if they aren’t ready to buy again, they can be a great referral resource.
It’s also possible to keep them actively engaged in your brand. People are always off to the next “latest and greatest.” When you’re actively promoting, people always wait to see what you do, even if they aren’t ready to buy. Yet once they are ready, the conversion process will be easier than ever.
It All Starts with a Consumer Targeting Strategy
An effective consumer targeting strategy starts with a deep understanding of your customer data. Without it, you don’t have the information to understand and segment your audience correctly.
If you’ve ever thrown marketing dollars at a campaign with little results, you know what this is all about. Wouldn’t it be easier to have a clearly defined audience with clearly defined messages that actually work?
It starts with a better strategy. There are numerous ways to do that. Let’s find out which methods are best for you. We can do it together. Let’s get started today.
