A spectrum of people to be targeted

lead generation, Marketing, single target market

Once you have chosen a Single Target Market to focus on, you need to find ways of addressing that market.

In any market there will be a spectrum of customers- At one end you will have people who are reactive, they are in pain and they need a solution now. At the other end of the spectrum you will have people who are progressive and proactive and want to take measures before a problem occurs. And in between are people at various degrees between getting into pain and getting to become progressive after observing something.

Generally its a good idea to target the people who are in pain first, because they can give an order immediately. Immediately is a relative term – depending on the sales cycle of what you are selling. If you were caught in a hurricane or cyclone and your roof has blown away, then you need to get the roof fixed immediately as in yesterday. On the other hand if you are in B2B , immediately could mean a roll out in 3 months.

But how do you identify someone who is in pain in your market. Most people who want an instantaneous answer would always search on Google. So if you can advertise on Google with the exact same terms that the customer would think when in pain, then they could come on top of Google search and get business.

As I had in my post yesterday however, you have got someone to raise their hand by clicking on the link but if you don’t capture their email address, that advertisement will go waste the person visits your website without giving their email. You need to figure out a way to address this.

Similarly for the other end of the spectrum – the progressive or proactive folks. They will also go on Google or in case of B2B, they will ask their subordinates to find out things. Those subordinates will also first go to Google. So what will they those folks think when they have to do some thing proactive in their category. Again put out the paid advertisements with respect to that.

But first focus on the people in pain, because you can get business faster. Once you delight the customer, then you can do even more business with referrals and other things.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!

Single Target Market – by pain points

B2B, Marketing, segmentation, single target market

I have written about identifying different niches in the market based on the usage. Today’s post will be a little longer than the usual posts because I will showcase two clear applications with examples.

For example maybe your product or service can be targeted at the replacement market or it could be targeted at the OEM market. if you are a tyre manufacturer you can get specialised by cars, two wheelers, trucks, off road etc.Then you can device another niching strategy based on going to the OEMs who manufacture these products. These manufacturers would buy in bulk. Here you don’t need to advertise in the mass market. You need to be closely aligned with the OEM so that when they design new products, they consider your tyres. This is a B2B play.

On the other hand another strategy could be targeting the replacement market. Now you could have a B2C strategy where you are targeting individuals who need to replace their tyres in their old vehicles. To be able to get mind share you will need to advertise rigorously to ensure that you stay top of the mind when someone needs to replace their tyres. On the other hand you could target fleet owners who have to maintain a large fleet. These would be B2B buyers and the method of targeting them would be completely different.

Today I came across another way to look at the idea of a single target market. Its by identifying the pain and retooling the product slightly or retooling the packaging. A very common example of this is the concept of sachets for shampoos which got pioneered in India by the FMCG companies. About 20 years back there was a company in south India, which made shampoos, which did not have a brand as well known as the Uniilevers or the P&G. They recognised the fact that poor ladies in India wanted to wash their hair (typically long hair) but did not have the budget to buy a big bottle of shampoo. Other than the budget they did not have the place to keep the bottle after taking bath because they would take bath in public washrooms.

They came out with a plastic sachet of the shampoo at a cost of Rupee 1/- (about 2 cents at that time) with just enough shampoo for one wash for the ladies. This suddenly became a rage and the volumes of this company grew dramatically. Soon all the MNCs had to copy the idea and come out with equivalent sachets for their shampoos.

Now while the original plan was for the single target as ladies who could not afford the full bottle, another segment which had pain was travelling salesmen who could not carry a bottle of shampoo with them while they were on tours. A lot of the hotels they stayed in did not provide for shampoos. So this became another market that these companies started targeting.

So you could even see the resistance points to the consumption of your product and find the pain in the market to penetrate another segment.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!

Doing the medium, market, message map – 2

campaign, content, Marketing, media, medium, messaging, single target market

In the previous post on this topic, I had given my views on why starting with the medium first is not a good idea. As a matter of fact a lot of people may give a lot of focus on the message also. No doubt creating the message (all kind of content) is a creative capability and requires skill but sending an amazing message to the wrong audience will be ineffective.

Let’s take a few examples, to showcase my logic.

Suppose you were selling lingerie but your database or list of people to whom you were sending the message was primarily men, there’s quite a big chance that the campaign would not be successful.

Suppose you were selling diet pills for men and your database primarily had women and lean men, would you be able to sell a lot of packages of your diet pills.

In both the the above examples you may have some success either because the amazing message you wrote got the spouses buying somethings or relatives buying something but it would not be what you are actually looking for.

On the other hand even a mediocre message to the right list will get a large response. This is not to underscore the importance of copy. It is however important to emphasize the importance of identifying clearly the single target market that you’re focusing on.

Hope I have been able to place my viewpoint clearly over the last 2 posts. I would to hear if there are any counter arguments that any of you have to the logic I have placed. Please list your comments below.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!

Doing the medium – market, message match

campaign, compelling, ideal customer, Marketing, medium, messaging, single target market

A lot of times I get to hear, we want to run a video campaign, or email campaign or we want to start a podcast. People start with the medium first, which in my opinion is the wrong sequence of actions. The first thing that need’s to be determined is the “market / ideal customer”. Where is the Single Target Market that you want to focus on. Once you have determined that piece then you figure out the messages / content you want to give to that audience and then you find the vehicle (the medium) to take that message / content.

Each message / piece of content, has a “job” (job of the milkshake , Clayton Christensen) to do. One message could be get the person to raise their hand, another could be to educate the prospects, some could be to compel the prospects to buy.

Now based on the message that you are trying to give out to your audience, you can choose the medium. Choosing a medium which the market does not access will be disastrous for your message and overall marketing plan.

As an example , if your audience is doing a lot of commute then a podcast or a video both could be good. But if you realise that within that audience which does commute there are people who commute on bicycles or drive cars then a video is not a good idea. A podcast could be a better idea. For example, I do a lot of commute, where I am driving my car. And giving me company are different podcasts, some of which I refer over here as well. If someone was to direct me to watch a video, to educate me while I was driving, I would not look at it and it would be a waste.

So when you choose to either do a campaign or plan an activity related to marketing, always start with the audience of one – see what is happening in the life of that one person from the Single Target Market that you defined, and then how you will reach out to her with whatever is the focus of the messaging that you intend.

Till next time then

Carpe Diem!!!