How can a business take leads and launch a target marketing campaign?
Let’s look at how this issue confronts a typical business.
Tomas owns a gourmet food business. His online sign-up sheet generates a decent supply of leads. The marketing manager has just begun to analyze this group of leads. So far Tomas has seen that lots of people from out of state are interested in specialty foods. Plus, a large percentage of these prospects like gourmet food and want to learn how to cook with specialty ingredients.
The next task is to convert these interested parties into buyers. This is where targeted marketing comes into play.
What does targeted marketing involve?
It’s a combination of web metrics, content, and marketing enticement all rolled into one. In practicality, this involves studying the data of your contact and or customer database and determining from this list a particular group to focus on in your marketing efforts.
In Tomas’ case, it could involve a targeted e-mailer to people that like Italian food. Or an even more segmented campaign could be aimed at individuals who like pasta sauces with a particular ingredient. For instance, Tomas could create an e-mailer for people that like pine nuts and basil, as in that all famous sauce, known as pesto.
What is the goal of targeting marketing?
The goal is to entice prospects to become buyers and to turn buyers into loyal customers.
The key focus is to appeal to prospects/customers interests and tastes so you can approach them with a marketing message and a call to action. For example, at Tomas’ website he could have an article about the origin of pesto sauce and an overview on the different versions of this sauce. To further capture the interest of visitors Tomas could offer a free coupon and sample of pesto sauce. On the website Tomas could also mention how the offer is good only with a completed questionnaire about favorite uses for pesto such as: topping for pasta, pizza, crackers, or on a particular entrée. The answers to this questionnaire would provide fodder for future marketing campaigns.
Aside from products are their other ways to segment market?
Yes. Marketers frequently develop segmented campaigns based upon customer demographics, industry SIC Codes, revenue, number of employees, income, and age.
How does trust play a factor in segment marketing?
Trust is very important. When customers trust a company they are more than willing to divulge personal information, which businesses in turn can use to segment market. With the backlash against spam it is paramount that email communications be permission based.
A recent 2005 Online Permissions Survey conducted by the Ponemon Institute evaluated consumers impressions of online merchants and marketers communication. The survey results are based on 1,799 responses from Internet users in all major regions of the U.S. and Canada. According to this survey, 56% of consumers feel respected when marketers attempt to understand their interests. However, 64% of consumers specified that if they have control over the types of online communication they receive, they will be more likely to trust the marketers that sent it to them. This is another important reason to make sure your marketing efforts reflect the consumers’ tastes and interests and are permission based.
