Tier Your Audience to Target SMB Marketing

credit: mimikirchner.com

Targeting your audience is like a moving target these days. In last night’s State of the Union address, President Obama called for bipartisanship to fix the soaring deficit. The folks across the aisle were certainly not his primary audience for the first two years of his presidency until the mid-term elections.

A story in Advertising Age about dads who control the grocery cart has marketers scrambling to re-purpose promotions aimed at the growing stay-at-home male population.

A blog post by Ivonne Vasquez speaks to her dismay at being bi-cultural, bi-lingual, a mom, and head of household forgotten by any marketer anywhere.

Who is your target audience, small-to-medium business owner?

I bet it’s like playing Russian roulette; wherever the social media listening tracker lands on a given day then that’s your audience for a week.

When I write integrated marketing proposals driven by public relations and blended with social media, the audience section is a critical component. At whom is this campaign targeted? There are tiered audiences for any business’s programs; it’s important to know your primary and secondary customers and prospects.

If, for any reason, your intended marketing has gone by the wayside and audiences  you’ve never considered before as a customer are popping onto your radar, then step back and re-visit  your foundation.

Take a look at your messaging. When was the last time you sat down with your leadership team and asked “What are we today? What do we want to be tomorrow?” A refresh to push information that describes products and services by storytelling rather than just the facts, please, is a good exercise. Data and statistics are always good supporting evidence to tell your story.

Any size business can issue a press release. There are oodles of online press release distribution services today; some as cheap (yes, I said cheap) as $50 per release. If you want to get your feet wet, then give it a whirl and spend a bit to see what comes. Essentially, internet press releases help drive link love to your website and boost organic search rankings.

Oops, did I say website? No campaign refresh is ever complete without taking a close look at your website; it’s the core of your foundation and a highly critical component for your company’s reputation, credibility, brand, and marketing.

I don’t want to get into a tactical discussion about the elements in your business that need updating; what I do want to suggest is that you and your business compatriots have a strategic discussion about your key audiences.

Where I see red flags on the marketing horizon is that we’re all getting caught up in tactics, applications and bells and whistles.  It’s kind of like these new kid singers on Radio Disney who drown their voices with amazing acoustics and background noise to disguise their average music ability.

A return to the basics every now and again is not only helpful; it’s necessary. Because the advent of social media has provided a cadre of new audiences communicating directly with you, as a business owner, you’ve got to pull out the stops and strategically understand who they are and whether your product or service is aiming straight or on the curvy narrow.

If this is off base, please say so…with all the media I consume, it’s hard to keep my own head on straight.