Strangely, this week has been the week of piggyback marketing discussions. I have no idea why because I’ve spent little time on the subject in the past. But it has been tremendously appropriate this week.
On Monday, I met with a gentlemen who is selling an incredibly useful and revenue producing service. But no one knows it exists, and the few that do aren’t properly incentified to delve further and learn more about it.
And then on Saturday, I spoke to a friend who’s selling a product that isn’t highly sought after by her target market. That sounds odd doesn’t it? Why would you have a product that your target market isn’t looking for? Despite them not looking for it, most who could use it would end up with happier and more fulfilling marriages. Not every product has a built-in audience, unfortunately.
So how do you market products and services like this?
We market an antioxidant supplement that’s different than any other supplement on the market. The problem is no one knows to ask for the benefit we offer. Even though lots of folks know what antioxidants are – and millions are searching for them, we know it’s not worth the effort to get to the top of Google for our keywords. (That’s like battling giants). Thus, have decided on a piggybacking strategy instead.
We use infomercials. How are they piggybacking, you ask? Well, we didn’t create our own television station, nor did we invent a new kind of TV. Instead, we’re advertising on TV stations and Radio stations that already have a built-in audience. Unlike SEO, we’re not reaching them at the exact moment they’re looking for us – but we’re reaching them and creating awareness and identity.
Piggyback marketing is the art of identifying businesses with an audience similar to your target market -and then offering your services to their market. Often times companies will do this as a service to their customers, while other times an affiliate arrangement has to be negotiated.
So how do you start a piggyback marketing strategy?
The one and only important thing to know is who your target audience is. That’s it. If you know who they are, you can begin step 2 which is figuring out where they are. Once you figure out who and where they are, all you need to do is meet the people who are already serving them.
Erica Douglass of Erica.biz has long held the belief that guest post blogging is a fantastic way to build a relationship with your target audience. In fact, she wrote a book and teaches about guest post blogging. If you can make a name for yourself, with solid guest posts, you’ll begin to receive attention and will be able to market products and services. This is especially helpful if your product or benefit would be sought after IF your audience knew it existed.
Another way to hop onto traffic that someone else has created is by uploading an e-book to Clickbank. That’s a passive way of getting your product onto websites who are serving a similar audience. In a similar story, I recently learned of a self-published author who got her books on the counters of book and gift stores – and ended up selling hundreds of thousands of them. She understood that the bookstores she chose were catering to her audience already.
And if you’re really good, like the people at MARS, Inc., get your product mentioned in next summer’s cinema Blockbuster. Product placement, though a separate strategy, is piggybacking on the efforts of others. Remember when E.T. enjoyed munching on Reese’s Pieces? That’s marketing genius there.
Just like SEO, piggyback marketing is the art of standing in front of the traffic (wherever that may be). However, SEO requires your audience to be looking for you. Piggybacking gives you the opportunity to send out your message to an audience that will be receptive to it.
