A few days ago I received a telemarketing phone call on my business phone. A company rang to say "we are a digital marketing company and we are calling to see if we can create a website for you". I laughed loudly and informed him "I'm a website designer". He laughed too and hung up!
While it was funny at the time, it did make me wonder whether many of us are doing enough market research. In the example I gave above, the telemarketing company had done some bare minimum research because they were contacting businesses (rather than cold calling through random phone numbers). But obviously the research stopped there!
There are entire books (and many of them) written on this topic, but here are some important things to consider when you are researching your target market and working out the best ways to promote your product or service to them:
- how does your product or service fulfill a need or solve a problem for a potential customer?
- how do you differ from other companies in your industry (what makes you stand out)?
- what do you need to know about your potential customers in order to appeal to them?
- create a customer profile (an in-depth description of who your typical customer is)
- where are your customers likely to engage? Social media? Email? Local papers? Personal contact?
Most SMEs have a limited marketing budget. So it stands to reason that those dollars should be spent wisely. And the best way to do this is to make sure that any marketing efforts are targeted directly to your niche market. Focusing on a specific section of the population (ideally those who might be interested in your product or service) will allow you to communicate and engage with those people more deeply and specifically.
Michelle Grice writes a weekly column for business women in The Western Weekender