We all want roughly the same thing from our marketing campaigns: tangible evidence that the money and time we invested earned us some returns. While individual marketing campaign goals vary widely, most fit under that broad umbrella.
So the question is: how can you develop a marketing campaign that pays off? Any successful marketing venture includes three basic elements. Tweak and apply these to your next campaign and watch the profits roll in.
Researching Your Target Audience
The target market for your products or services is the target audience for your marketing campaign. To sell to this group of people, you need to know them inside and out by understanding their hopes, desires, fears, and needs. Audience research should include…
- Surveys, which you can give through emails, on social media, or as part of your sales process. Be sure to up the odds that clients will complete your surveys!
- Direct questions, which you can ask in person (at events or places your audience frequents), on social media, on blogs, or through email. Spend time making sure your questions are clear and will elicit useful answers.
- Conversations. In person, through social media, or otherwise, take time to interact with your audience. Listen what they have to say. Get off topic. You’ll discover valuable information you may never have thought to look for.
Developing Your Message
Once you understand the very soul of your target audience, you need to develop a marketing message that speaks to its hopes, desires, fears, and needs—or some combination of these. This process may take a little time, but nailing your message is worth the effort—your audience will respond when you hit the right nerves.
Once you decide what you want to say about your products or services and how you want to say it, it’s time to get the message out there. Depending on how you can best reach your target audience, you may want to consider…
- Pitching story ideas (related to your offerings) to various publications that your target audience reads.
- Buying ad space (online, on the radio, in the newspaper—wherever your research points you).
- Designing emails and newsletters that get the word out.
- Setting up a booth at an event where members of your target audience will be present.
- Spreading the word through affiliate marketing.
The right message in the right place will connect with members of your target audience—getting to this point, though, will take some time!
Mastering the Art of Timing
You don’t want to launch your perfect wrapping paper campaign the day after Christmas. Timing, of course, plays a major role in whether or not your message and location are appropriate.
The good news is that if you’ve done your target audience research well, you should be in touch with seasonal fluctuations on your target audience’s wants and needs. And in the 24-hour marketing world of the Internet, you can even tap into the subtle ways time of day might impacts them!
Putting It All Together
Hitting these three notes just right takes more time and energy than substituting some guesswork. But if your goal is a bigger return on your marketing dollars, precision is the way to go.
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