This week we continue our look at the Three Magical M’s of Marketing. For the past two weeks we examined the first two key elements that you must carefully consider to be successful with your marketing; Use the Right Media and Create the Right Message.
This week we will continue our study with the 3rd M: Target the Right Market.
In today’s Information Age targeting your marketing has become imperative. Yet most small business owners don’t understand the importance of it nor know how to properly implement it.
Why Targeting Matters
As we discussed last week, today’s consumers are bombarded with over 15,000 advertising messages every day. Consumers quickly filter out what they are interested in from the irrelevant. If a marketing message does not apply to them at that very moment they pass over it without giving it a second thought.
A shotgun approach to marketing still used by some companies hasn’t worked effectively for years. There was a time when you could broadcast your message successfully to everyone. Those that were in need of your product or service took action. Knowing they may have a future need for it, the rest would store the information away for future use.
That approach simply doesn’t work anymore. So much information is thrown at us daily that we can barely keep up with what is relevant, much less remember something that we might need in an uncertain future.
In today’s culture even a rifle approach is too broad and little better than shotgun marketing. You need a laser scope to zero in on a precise target. For example:
Engagement ring advertisements targeting all men would be a shotgun approach. But an ad with a man proposing on bended knee would have no interest to a married man. Nor would it appeal to a single man who is not dating. In fact reminding him he cannot get a steady girlfriend may cause a negative impression of your store.
A rifle approach would be to target the proposing man ad only to single men in a serious relationship. Then create an ad with a romantic couple appealing to married men with the message to upgrade her diamond for an anniversary. And don’t show any engagement ring ads to single men not in a relationship.
While more successful than the shotgun approach to marketing, this rifle targeting is still too broad for today’s sophisticated consumer. A small inexpensive diamond engagement ring may be an insult to a successful businessman. You certainly don’t want to try to encourage him to upgrade his wife’s diamond with a picture of a ring smaller than hers. On the other hand, while you want to stretch their budget, showing rings far above what someone can afford could turn them off. Rather than creating a desire to do business with you, they may see you as condescending and pretentious.
A laser approach to targeting begins with the basic demographics of rifle marketing but adds advanced demographics as well. Financial data such as annual household income and net worth, as well as the age of the consumer should all be considered. But don’t stop there. Today’s marketer has advanced Psychographics at their disposal as well. You can precisely target a person’s likes, interest, beliefs and values.
Does the consumer prefer a more traditional appearance or would a modern design fit their style? Do they want a subdued sophisticated look or are they bold and flashy? Do they prefer white or yellow gold, or is platinum the only thing that will do? Do they want a traditional diamond for their engagement ring or a classic of sapphire or ruby? Is round, emerald, heart shaped or princess cut her fancy?
Knowing what the customer wants and desires, allows you to precisely match your marketing to them. When they see that picture of the perfect ring along with your message crafted just for them, you will create that burning desire that can only be quenched by a visit to your store for the ultimate purchase.
A Targeting Platform for Small Businesses
By now many of you may be thinking that this all sounds great, but where can you find such detailed information on consumers? And if you can find it, how is a small business able to afford such advanced targeting?
Well I have great news for you! There is an advertising platform that is working hard for SMBs (small and medium businesses). This platform has developed the most comprehensive database of demographic and psychographic information ever compiled on consumers.
What is this Miracle Advertising Platform?
It may surprise you, but it is the Ad Manager inside of Facebook. With Facebook’s Ad Manager you can display paid advertising on the two largest Social Media networks, Facebook and Instagram. In addition, through their Ad Network you can place native ads within third-party Mobile Apps. With over 1.5 million businesses advertising on Facebook it is now the largest mobile advertising platform, edging out Google’s AdMob.
However, what sets Facebook Ad Manager apart from all the rest is not the enormous number of consumers you can reach with Facebook advertising, nor the vast array of different Ad Objectives or types of ads that you can create. The most impressive aspect of Ad Manager is the mammoth database of consumer information available to advertisers to laser focus your marketing to a hyper-targeted group of consumers. Never before has such demographic and psychographic information ever been assembled for small and medium businesses to use.
To begin with, Facebook has all the basic demographic information their 1.4 billion users entered in their Personal Profiles. Then Facebook monitors all your activities on their social network. Every time you post something to your timeline, Facebook records what you posted. When you ‘Like’ a post or click on a picture, video, or article; Facebook records your interest. For the past 10 years this information has been carefully compiled and cataloged in Facebook’s database. This alone provides more information on consumers Likes, Interests, and Behaviors than any competing marketing platform.
As if that wasn’t enough information, Facebook went out and partnered with the 3 largest data services: Epson, Acxion and Datalogix. If you wanted to send a mailing to people in your target zip codes with a certain household income, this is the type of company from which your mail service would buy the list. Facebook compiles the complete database of these three services. Just this composite list would make Facebook the largest data service. But they then combine that data with their own list creating an unprecedented source of consumer information for marketers to use. It provides even the smallest of businesses unbelievable resources to target their advertising.
For as little as one dollar a day you can advertise through Facebook Ad Manager with access to all these advanced hyper-targeting metrics. When your marketing contains the perfect message, presented on the proper media, targeting the ideal market how can you fail? You can transform your ordinary ads into outrageously successful ads and see a greater ROI on your advertising. For more information on Mobile Social Marketing for retail stores please visit FeetThruTheDoorMarketing.com
Brad Simon is co-owner of Internet 4 Jewelers and Feet Thru The Door Marketing. They provide Affordable Full-Service Social Media Management and Facebook Ad Campaign Management exclusively for retail jewelry stores as well as Online Educational Programs for local retail stores. For more information contact Brad at 864-680-4416 or Brad@Internet4Jewelers.com.
