Today, social media marketing is the rage. It's scorching the marketing world like a bush fire. Everyone's climbing on the band-wagon enamored by its hype. Many businesses look at social media marketing as an instant solution. But stop a minute and ask yourself, is it right for your business? After all, social media marketing is only another marketing vehicle which is as good as its audience. If your audience does not use it, it's not going to do a thing for you.
Look at Facebook, which was and is a highly rewarding vehicle to generate awareness about a business and market its products AND if you reach the right audience, that is. But are you reaching the right audience? Consider a sobering thought ND a recent marketing study suggests that 70% of appreciative readers who like a company's Facebook page are not really its target audience.
Businesses consider answering what and how about themselves and their products to be time well spent, but what about the all-important question who? So which is your potential market and who are your prospective clients?
Determine your target audience
The audience you should be looking for fall into two groups:
- New customers who need your product which is within their budget
- Repeat customers who had already invested in your product, are happy with it, and will be quite happy to make another purchase.
You need to study everything about the two groups.
Demographics is a key
Demographic data is information which can be easily determined. It will help you identify a pattern of common characteristics to create a typical customer profile. Answers you are looking for is the gender of your customers, their age group, race, marital status, employment status, household income, media habits, entertainment habits, geographic location etc., This is the information that you must garner to know where to market your products.
Geographic Location
Are you able to define where your customers are located and break it down into urban or rural, state, region or country? Today the world is a global village with every business having an eCommerce element which makes this information critical.
Or you might have a niche audience in which case you need to define it even more critically perhaps even down to geographic location almost to the point of knowing its coordinates.
Unless you are clear about this information, your marketing efforts are likely to be very much hit and miss.
Customer Profiling
Since today's business is customer driven you have to have a detailed picture of your potential buyer to know whom to reach. You need to know their personality, attitudes, sense of values, lifestyle, interests, social habits, sporting habits, in fact almost the way they brush their teeth. You need to be able to get into the mind of your customer to determine not just how to market your product but to whom. If your message reaches the right customer in the right place and in the right way, then your marketing effort is a winner.
Behavioral Patterns
What are the behavioral patterns of your customers? What are their media habits? What are their browsing habits? Which sites appeal to them? What are their buying habits? Do they study reviews? Do they shop online? How frequently do they check their mail? What social media sites do they use?
When trying to develop a behavioral pattern don't confine it to online activity. Their general activities too are significant. Try to determine if they shop at department stores or malls, are they coupon savers, do they listen to the radio in their cars, etc.
Behavioral patterns of your customers are very important, because they can tell you what their needs are, how to get their attention, where in your marketing funnel they would fit, etc.
Remember, defining your target audience is among the first steps you'll have to take in your marketing efforts. Failing to do it can cost your business a lot of money, time and opportunities. So, know how to do it right, and do it right.