While you can”™t compete with the millions of dollars mega-organizations spend on advertising and public relations, you can know what your customers want, need and desire better than the “big guys” and use free marketing money to help. By focusing your budget with laser-like precision you”™ll get much more from what you spend by developing a niche market.
By definition, a niche market is composed of customers and prospects that all have similar interest or something in common such as golf, a specific type of music or the same heritage. Tightly define your market and then focus your marketing campaign on what your customer or prospect wants and speak directly to them using plain language. A big spender”™s ad may promise a lot, but contain asterisks referencing exceptions in the fine print. Take advantage of this with a campaign that counters, “There are no asterisks.”
Free marketing money
Determine if some or all of your marketing qualifies for co-op advertising. The Cooperative Advertising Information System reports that although some $25 billion in co-op money is available, each year only 60 percent is claimed. Take advantage and saturate your carefully defined market by using these free matching funds.
In “Proven Ways to Be Persuasive,” by Noah Goldstein, Steve Martin and Robert Cialdini, they state, “Social proof can have a major impact in your business. Invite current and potential customers to a special event and make it easy for them to mingle and discuss the advantages of your organization.” The authors point out that “We feel obligated to return favors performed for us and social proof guides our behavior.” A successful special event is easy for a niche marketer because you already know what the ideal prospects”™ common interests are.
Direct mail
As consumers”™ inboxes become increasingly crowded, many niche marketers are rediscovering the value of mail. It has long been an effective and efficient way to market products and services and, according to research by the Direct Marketing Association, delivers an ROI of $12.57 for every dollar invested.
“Customers like getting mail and ”¦ 79 percent of all households read or scan the direct mail they receive, even younger adults,” according to DMA research.
Carefully targeted direct mail can do things that no other medium can. Delivering a sample of your product ensures that prospects get a full marketing experience that can include touch, feel, sound, smell, perhaps even taste ”“ not just a digital message. How about rewarding a loyal customer with a gift that provides instant gratification and helps intensify loyalty? Databases can target and locate new direct mail customers that have the same interest as those you are so good at serving now.
Yes, all successful marketing and public relations efforts are successful because they offer the best and most complete solution for solving the problems their customers are facing. By serving a carefully defined niche market you will know their problems better than any competitor and be able to deliver exactly what your customer or prospect wants
The best marketing that can be done to beat the big spenders starts by knowing the problems that the people in your marketplace are facing better than anyone else. It ends by delivering the products or services customers need or want in a superior way. Targeted direct mail using customer testimonials is also a great way of telling others what you do. Use free marketing money and optimize results.
Questions for discussion:
Ӣ How well do we know our customersӪ most important wants, needs and desires?
Ӣ Do we communicate an understanding of their problems and deliver the best solution?
Joe Murtagh is The DreamSpeaker, an international keynote speaker, meeting facilitator and business trainer. For questions or comments, contact Joe@TheDreamSpeaker.com, www.TheDreamSpeaker.com or call (800) 239-0058.
