Laser Targeting Your Customers #bcn10

Posted By: DanRMorris | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Local Small Business Marketing, Niche Internet Marketing

This week, at my MeetUp group, to which the topic was “Laser Target Your Customers”, I met a guy who sells solar panels as a commissioned salesman. He’s really pretty inspiring being that he got the job so he could learn more about solar panels so he could create a better website.

I found out right away that he’s been aggressively marketing his solar panels – doing all the right things you would assume a solar panel salesman is doing. He’s got business cards, he goes door to door, he did a mailing, he’s got

Who's better at targeting customers?

websites set up to send prospects where they can learn more about solar panels, he’s trying to capture e-mail addresses, he’s met with Realtors to learn if they improve home value and he’s met with home builders about installing them in new homes. . . I’d say he’s better than your average salesman when it comes to productivity.

BUT he’s making no sales.

The problem is he hadn’t figured out what the true benefit of solar panels are, and thus he had no message and without a message there’s no one to target. So, that’s what we did and now he’ll have no trouble “laser targeting his customers” going forward.

Messaging

After all the talk about the benefits of solar panels, I asked him one question: “When do you make your money back”? Solar panels reduce utility bills but you’ve got to pay for equipment and installation up front. His answer was “10 years and at that point you’ll have no utility bills”

PRESTO! That’s the answer in a nutshell.

The benefit of solar panels is that you’ll have no utility bills in 10 years. That’s an easy-to-understand, straight forward benefit. And from that we can contrive a very smartly put together target market. Of all the people on the planet, who would most appreciate no utility bills?  Yep, you guessed it: Seniors!

Now we’re getting somewhere. So . . . if you retire to a fixed income, utility bills are one of the few fluctuating bills remaining. If it takes 10 years to get to that benefit, wouldn’t it behoove Mr. Solar Panel salesman to target 55 year old homeowners? How about 55 yr. old homeowners, within his sales territory, who can afford the upfront cash outlay? Now there’s a market we can laser target.

Laser Targeting Methods

Here’s where you come in.  How can a solar panel salesman market solar panels to 55 year olds? I’ll get the ball rolling, and then I want to hear your ideas:

  1. Joint Venture with a Financial Services guy to put together a seminar about “Getting rid of utility bills when you retire”.
  2. Use Facebook Ads demographics to reach only people in his territory who are 55 right now with an ad that says “Retiring in 10 Years? How about reducing your utility bills to nothing?”
  3. Guest blog on “planning to retire” websites with articles about the value of getting rid of your utility bills.”
  4. Start his own local radio show (or become a guest on one) that’s about Saving Money for Retirement.
  5. Partner with the power company and get featured in their events about selling power back to the utility company.

So that’s enough to get your thinking cap on. How can Mr. Solar Panels further laser target this very clear niche?

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Classic Marketing Mistakes

Posted By: DanRMorris | Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Common Marketing Mistakes

One of the classic marketing mistakes you’ll see over and over is the inability of marketers to see the world from their customers’ point of view.

I was driving home from Myrtle Beach today when I noticed a few dozen telephone poles were adorned with the same sign. One after another the poles had the same sign stapled to them. The sign was yellow, had big black letters and was posted about 6 feet off the ground. It was the perfect color to see during the day, the perfect size letters and on the major thoroughfare of the town.

The problem was they couldn’t be seen. The advertiser got just about everything right EXCEPT. . .

They failed to understand anything more about their target market other than where would be the best place in town to find them. .

BUT. . .

. . . what they ignored was the best way to interact with their audience. Other than knowing who the audience is, it’s best to take the time to see how they think. For instance, would it make sense to set-up an interactive elliptical machine demonstration in the drive-through lane at the bank? No, it wouldn’t.

The norm and expected behaviour at a drive-through is that you pull up, stay in line, stay in your car, do your business and leave. How effective would an advertiser be if he found that 98% of his target market used a bank drive-through.  Despite his target market being there, how successful would he be in trying to get drive-through customers to get out of their cars and onto an elliptical machine?

Well, that’s precisely what the telephone pole advertiser did.  The mistake they made was facing their signs directly at the street and not toward the oncoming drivers. By facing them directly at the street, I had to slow down to 5 mph and look through the passenger side window in order to read them.  Slowing down in traffic to read a telephone  pole sign?

That’s just not what people do. And that kind of thinking is what makes this one of many classic marketing mistakes.

So don’t stop at knowing your market is females, 45 and older, making $119,000 per year, with 2 kids and a Master’s Degree. . .  That just tells you who you have to study. In fact target market demographics is the starting point. . . figuring out how to market to that group will determine your success.

Ever run across an ad that was well done except for one glaring mistake? I’d love to hear about it. Leave a comment and share!

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Celebrity Apprentice: Right Guard proves the buying process

Posted By: DanRMorris | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Consumer Buying Process

Last week on the Celebrity Apprentice, the folks at Right Guard got asked a pointed question.  They first  instructed the celebrities that the Right Guard target market was young, sporty males and thus their advertisement needed to reflect that. One of the Celebrity Apprentice team members asked, “Should we market to the mom’s and wives who may actually be the ones who buy the deodorant?”  And like they should, Right Guard knew the answer.

That’s one of the things we drill in our local marketing workshops – the buying process. If you don’t understand how your customer comes to buy your product, how do you market to that customer?

So their answer was, “Mom’s and wives may buy our product but we’ve found the males in the house influence the decision”.

That goes directly to the effectiveness of your e-mails, your headlines, your blog posts and your in-store advertising. If you don’t know who your real customer is, what are building upon?

Imagine an entire campaign laid out in Woman’s Day Magazine, in Oprah Magazine and in People attempting to educate mom’s on the benefits of Right Guard for their sons. Do you then marry the message with the look? Do you take away the sporty, edgy feel and give it a more wholesome “good for you” quality? And are your contests then loaded up with “mom” prizes?

. . . Only then to find out that your repeat buys are next to nothing because the boys want the edgier, more heavily celebrity-weighted “Arm & Hammer” – the next time? Because in the end, the mom’s and wives want their men to actually wear the deodorant. “Good for you” or not, if they don’t wear it – they won’t rebuy it.

Don’t begin the process until you look deeply at your own customer. Ask yourself these questions:

  1. How does my customer first hear of my existence?
  2. What is my customer doing moments before they buy my product?
  3. What is my customer buying? (In the case of Right Guard, the name of the scent? the look? the brand?”
  4. What stops a similar person from becoming a customer?
  5. Finally, what does my customer overcome to become my customer?

Have you figured out the buying process of your customer? How did you come to that conclusion?

And; if you’re interested in learning more about the buying process, check out our other buying process posts.

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