How to Get the Most From Your Target Marketing Efforts

Target marketing is something that is often misunderstood. Many assume that it means dividing customers into different groups. Although this is not totally incorrect, there is a lot more involved in targeting than simply separating your customers by gender, age or location.

In relation to lead generation, this strategy plays an integral role that enables messages to be tailored to customers on a deep level. Sending a generic message to every single person in your database is counter-intuitive in more ways than one. Aside from the obvious disadvantage of interpersonal communication, you also lose out on the chance to reach specific segments of your audience through target marketing.

Fine-Tune Your Target Marketing Approach

How can you be sure that your target marketing approach is on form? For starters, you could consider the following tips:

1. Segment your lists wisely. Market segmentation is essential to deliver highly targeted messages. Countless studies have shown that even segmenting by a single factor such as gender can have positive results. Effective segments to consider include location, behaviours such as views, visits and clicks, gender, and interest. For example, a sporting goods website could create unique messages for hikers, runners, swimmers and tennis players, or they could segment by products that have been viewed by registered users, or customers in certain parts of the country.
2. Focus on the important leads. Lead scoring is a very useful tool that helps you focus on the leads that are most likely to convert. Wasting time on cold or even lukewarm leads will mean that you are not spending time on the warm leads. Scoring your leads by criteria such as home page visits, newsletter signups, contact page views, product views and clicks is a good way to separate the cold leads from the warm ones.
3. Create a sales funnel. The final step, once you have segmented and scored your leads, is to create a sales funnel that is designed to guide customers through the lead nurturing process. Messages should be crafted at every stage, so that they reach people at the right stage in their journey. For instance, a brand new lead will be treated very differently to a lead that has made a purchase.

Think about it this way… if you were visiting that sporting goods store above, and you received a bland, generic message after registering, you would most likely delete or ignore it right away. If, on the other hand, you were browsing running shoes, and you got an email showcasing a selection of men’s running shoes, along with some tips on how to choose your shoes, you may be more likely to visit the store again or even make a purchase.

Ultimately, how you approach and reach your audience makes all the difference in target marketing.