Targeting your market
I recently had an experience I thought might be of value to anyone who wants to know a little more about the benefits of online marketing.
Last month I remodeled my upstairs bathroom and on one of several trips to the local Home Depot, I came out of the store to find a flyer on my windshield under my wiper blade. I get these every once in a while and normally I discard them because they’re usually advertisements that I’m just not interested in. This one, however, was different.
The flyer from the Home Depot parking lot was from an individual who was interested in selling a set of five wheels and tires that would fit a 1995-2001 Ford F-150 pickup truck or Ford Expedition. A quick glance around the parking lot showed that the only cars who had received the flyer were individuals like myself who were driving the year and model car that matched with the wheels and tires in the ad. I’m not normally one for shiny wheels, but I took an extra few seconds to read the flyer carefully, look at the pricing, and put it in my back pocket for later. I can only imagine that the other car owners who received the flyer did the same. At the very least I expect that each one took time for a second glance and one may very well have purchased some new tires!
This individual’s marketing method is spot-on advice for most of my clients. Yes, online advertising is a numbers game but by targeting a small, highly qualified audience, you can maximize the return on investment from your advertising dollars. Try one of the following to help target your audience more effectively:
- Use your current client email database to solicit additional business from your existing customers. As prior customers you know immediately that they have an existing need for your type of product or service. Why not share with them some of the similar or complimentary products/services you have to offer?
- Many pay-per-click advertising campaigns offer the ability to restrict your ads by time of day and geographic location. Try using these filters so that you spend the most money when potential clients are most likely to purchase and where they’re most likely to come from.
- Build an online marketing list by offering a free product that would appeal to a potential customer. A good example is our free report from the Department of Commerce entitled A Nation Online: Entering the Broadband Age that details internet usage statistics for American consumers including their reasons for going online, their most frequent online activities, and their socio-economic category.