(I + A + T) = TM
(Identity + Avatar + Tailor) = Target Market
Get this right, and you’ll never, ever worry about growing your business again. Most business owners don’t know what makes marketing work. That’s not surprising. There’s so much BS out there and, with information overload, it’s confusing.
Let’s first look at what marketing ISN’T.
It’s not social media (although that’s becoming increasingly important).
It’s not about your brand (although that’s very important).
It’s not a website (although that’s crucial).
It’s not what you do (although, of course, that plays a part).
So, what is marketing?
Marketing is simply your ability to influence people to buy your products or services.
That’s it.
How do you do that effectively?
Well, it’s taken decades of testing to really discover what makes marketing work, but, as I mentioned earlier, there are nine elements, nine Core Elements that are the Marketing DNA.
These nine elements are the foundation of all your sales and marketing, and as long as they are present in all your sales and marketing strategies and tactics (as you’ll see, you won’t necessarily use all of them all of the time, but I’ll explain what you need to use and when shortly), you’ll influence many, many more people to buy from you and keep buying from you.
To ensure you have success using this formula, you must first, and most importantly, clearly identify the type(s) of clients, customers or patients you are looking to target. These are typically known as the target market(s).
The ideal target market/markets is/are a clearly identified group or groups of people/businesses who/which
- Need – and, more accurately, want – your products or services
- Can afford to pay for your products or services
- Can be easily reached by your marketing efforts
- Have similarities (demographic/psychographic) that enable you to ‘group’ them together.
One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to try to be ‘all things to all people’.
Yes, there is success to be found using this approach, but by focusing on one or more carefully chosen target markets, you’ll be far more successful, and this success will be achieved much quicker than with any other approach.
Listen: You’re running a small or medium-sized business. You don’t have hundreds of thousands or millions of pounds sloshing around in your business.
You need to watch every single penny you spend. You aren’t a big brand (not yet anyway).
So why do so many businesses try to be all things to all people? In most cases it’s because they’re frightened to limit the number of potential customers they specifically target. They think that if they reduce the number of prospects, they’ll risk their whole livelihood!
Nothing could be further from the truth. Let me explain.
I’m often asked, ‘If I limit my market, won’t I be reducing the chances of doing business with more people?’
Yes, you will. But to succeed in today’s competitive market place, you need to concentrate your marketing on a small number of well- chosen target markets, into which you pour all of your resources.
Of course, if you focus on a smaller group you may miss the business from outside the target group. But what actually happens is that you increase the amount of business you receive from the target group.
This is because you are specifically meeting the target market’s needs and requirements. You are saying to them that you are THE business that knows about their situation, their wants and desires, their problems and challenges, and their concerns. No other business specifically meets their needs in this way, and therefore your business is seen as the logical company to turn to.
Traditional Mass Marketing versus Target Marketing
The following diagrams show the differences between mass marketing (targeting everyone) and target marketing (targeting a smaller segment of the market)…
Multiple Target Markets
You don’t have to restrict yourself to just one target market. You may find it necessary to focus on two or more target markets, depending on the products or services you provide. For example, an accountant may have three target markets:
- Start-up businesses
- £500,000–£1 million businesses
- £1 million–£2 million businesses
Or even more defined (‘vertical’) target markets:
- Dentists
- Media companies
- Legal
The accountant in this example would need to ‘speak’ and ‘communicate’ very differently to each target market, because they are so different. An accountant cannot speak the same way to a start-up business as they would to a £2 million business. If you think about it, it’s completely illogical, but that’s what people do!
Here is a diagram showing how this looks…
The Power of Target Marketing
Here’s a simple but very powerful example of why defining your target market is so important.
Let’s say a start-up business needs an accountant. Their first choice is to perhaps look in the local newspaper. Although there are a few classified ads.
The first one reads:
‘ABC Chartered Accountants. Tax preparation, auditing, bookkeeping, payroll services, help for start-ups, management accounts, and so on.’
The second ad reads:
‘XYZ Chartered Accountants. Specialising in helping start-ups get their businesses running quickly, profitably and effectively.’
Which accountants are they likely to choose?
The answer is obvious. If you can create this bond between your business and the target market(s), I guarantee you’ll grow your business quicker than you could ever imagine.
What you’re trying to do is get ‘inside the heads’ of your target market.
The results speak for themselves!
That’s the power you have when you use target marketing. You can influence people like never before, because you ‘get inside their heads’ and tailor your message (your chat-up lines) to them.
You must trust me with this.
USING THE SUCCESS FORMULA
(I + A + T) = TM
(Identity + Avatar + Tailor) = Target Market
(I) IDENTIFY
As we’ve just discussed, not all customers are created equally, and your business will naturally attract different segments of the market.
The first part of the success formula is to identify those types of customers who are most likely to buy from you.
Look at your existing clients, customers or patients. Which ones are the best? Which ones spend the most money? Are there other segments you could target?
Don’t make this more difficult than it needs to be.
(A) AVATAR
Once you’ve identified your target market(s), you need to build a simple profile of them (the Avatar).
There are four stages to this (but don’t worry, they’re all simple):
(T) TAILOR
Once you know WHO you’re targeting, you can then tailor your sales and marketing strategies to the Avatar Profile.
This is when you connect with the customer or potential customer on a completely different level, and when they say or think, ‘this is for ME’, your sales and profits will multiply!
The reason is simple: if people see your marketing piece and immediately think ‘this is specifically aimed at people like me’, then your response rates will immediately increase.
Here’s a more in-depth look at each characteristic:
Industry
What types of businesses do you want to target? Are there some industries that you want to stay clear of? Do you have any specialties with certain industries? Do you have credibility in any industries?
There are three key factors which influence the selection of the industry:
- Your industry experience
You may want to target industries where you already have experience.
- Your industry credibility
You may want to target industries where you already have credibility.
- Your likes and dislikes
You may have preferences already about industries that you like or dislike. This will obviously have an impact on the choices you make in terms of the industries you select.
Decision-Makers
An important consideration is choosing businesses with a simple decision-making process. Clearly, the larger the business, the more likely the number of decision-makers will increase, making the sale more difficult. But it all depends, of course, on what you’re selling and to whom!
Age of Business
Clearly there is an age range of businesses from start-ups to well- established companies. Are you bothered about how old a business is?
Turnover/Number of Employees
Both these demographics are easy indicators for choosing your target market.
Turnover has a direct impact on the number of decision-makers.
The Number of Employees is generally linked to turnover; and, again, the greater number of staff, the larger the company is likely to be. It brings in the decision about whether or not to work with sole proprietors!
Location
Where exactly do you want your customers to come from? Do not ignore those on your doorstep (a common mistake), as long as they fit in with the other characteristics.
Profitability
How concerned are you about working with profitable companies?
Accommodation
This refers to the type of dwelling your target market lives in. For example, do most of your customers live in four- or five-bedroom detached homes, or three- bedroom semi-detached? Do they live in apartments or council housing? Do they have large or small gardens, or none at all?
Decision-Makers
Is the male or female the main decision-maker, or is it a joint decision (rarely is this the case!).
Age
How old are your typical customers? Does it vary depending on gender?
Income
What is the combined income of the household? If you’re selling high- ticket products or services, this will have a significant bearing on your targeting.
Location
Again, where exactly do you want your customers to come from? Do not ignore those on your doorstep (a common mistake), as long as they fit in with the other characteristics.
Other Key Demographics
Depending on the type of product or service you sell, there are a multitude of other key demographics that you would want to consider.
For example:
- number of children
- age of children
- schools children go to
- type of employment
- credit history
- type of vehicles driven
- number of credit cards held
- ethnicity
- religion
- and on and on
You will know what demographics are important to you. Just make sure you factor them in when identifying what the ideal customer ‘looks like’.
