Marketing Effectively to More Than One Audience
If you’ve got a product or service to promote, you want to make sure it reaches as many potential customers as possible. But how can you do that if your marketing efforts only reach one type of audience?
First, most people are more than just one thing, so it’s important to know where your prospects may overlap with other markets. Second, there are certain audiences who might not be a perfect match for your brand, but for whom the product could be very valuable in the appropriate context— so making sure to market appropriately is key!
Lastly, it’s all about inclusion. It’s important to include all your audiences in your marketing efforts from the beginning so every person has a chance to learn about your product and participate.
The first step is to make sure you understand who your customers are, where they overlap with other markets, and what they have in common—so that you can reach them effectively.
Who Are Your Customers?
The answer will almost certainly differ when the question is asked by different people. For example, a customer might be:
A mother of three small children who is struggling to get them organized so she doesn't miss her bus stop.
A young entrepreneur who wants to start a company that makes eco-friendly and recycled clothes for women.
An environmentalist who cares about saving the planet from pollution.
The key to effective marketing is defining your customers in terms of what they have in common. This approach will allow for greater communication among the various markets, and an easier exchange of information (as you will understand each other).
So how do you define your customer in this way? You could try using any number of buzzwords like "environmental activist," "person on a budget," or whatever strikes your fancy, but this can cause miscommunication, and won't be very useful as you move forward.
Instead, you should start by narrowing down your audience's needs, wants and needs according to the situation they're in. This will allow you to speak directly to a specific market, and make improvements based on their reactions.
Make sure that your customers are clear about what they have in common with each other.
In this case, Caroline is a busy mother of three small children who wants to keep track of the days she has left before her bus stop. To do this effectively, she must organize her family's schedules from day to day so that she can avoid finding out the night before she has to leave that she only has twenty minutes left for dinner. She also has an important job interview she is nervous about and wants to get out of the house for a morning run.
How can we define Caroline in terms of what her needs, wants, and needs? Here's how:
Needs: Caroline needs to organize her family’s schedules from day-to-day to be ready in time for her bus stop.
Wants: Caroline also wants to stay fit by running in the mornings before work.
Needs: Finally, Caroline needs something that will be quick and easy for her family to use, so that she can concentrate on getting ready for her day.
By defining Caroline’s customer in this way, you can use marketing efforts to speak directly to her audience, and improve your product's design based on their feedback.
Another important consideration is whether or not there are other markets that have similar needs, wants, and needs. If you can find a market that is related to Caroline’s in some way, you should try to reach them as well. For example:
A mom of three who works from home and goes running everyday.
A woman who works from home and is looking for a good deal on stylish running clothes.
A mom who works from home and is interested in eco-friendly products for her family.
Similarly, if you can find a market that does not have the same needs, wants, and needs as your primary target customer, but for which your product could be a great value anyway, you should try to reach them as well. For example:
A mom of three who works from home and goes running everyday.
A woman who runs on the weekends and might be interested in clothes that would make her more comfortable while she's exercising.
An eco-conscious college kid who is looking for clothes to wear while she's traveling around Europe.
In this way, you can reach many audiences effectively with your marketing efforts.
Lastly, it is important to include all the audiences you reach in your marketing efforts from the beginning so that everyone has a chance to learn about your brand. You should use a blend of traditional and new media marketing to reach as many people as possible. Traditional media may include television, newspaper, radio and billboards. New media may include Facebook ads, Google search ads, online advertisements and blog posts.
To learn more about multi-marketing: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/275274
http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/reach-the-right-audience
http://nickkotan. com/2010/04/18/marketing-segmentation-intersection-of-audiences-markets-and-customers/#
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/275184
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/274824
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/274883
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/275289
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/275366
http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing-strategies-marketing-for-multidimensional-applications/#!link;target=_blank;base=off;rel=nofollow
Image credit: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Eiffel_Tower_Paris_-_20th_September_2008_(93826863).jpg; http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eiffel_Tower_Paris_-_20th_September_2008_(93826863).jpg#mediaviewer/File:Eiffel_Tower_Paris_-_20th_September_2008_(93826863).jpg
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Conclusion
In today's modern world, marketing is more important than ever. There are a lot of choices out there, and if you want to stand out you have to make yourself heard. I hope some of the strategies presented in this article will be useful for you as you build your business.
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