Using Target Marketing in the New Economy

In the previous blog, I discussed how to get to know your technology or software business’s target market. In this part, I’ll talk about why how much you know makes a difference.

Different things appeal to different people. Different people buy the same product for entirely different reasons. For example, suppose you are marketing to people that drive SUVs. For people living in northern areas, you can talk about never getting stranded in a snow storm. But for people living in Florida, talk of snow storms is meaningless. You’d be better off discussing the extra room for all the things you have to carry.

If you don’t currently use direct mail for your targeted marketing campaigns, I’ll encourage you to do so. Using a direct mail letter or postcard allows you to tailor the message to the software or technology customer segment with more precision. I’m not talking about writing individual letters to every person in your database. I’m suggesting dividing your list into several smaller segments, for example, prospects that have attended one of your software seminars and prospects that haven’t attended.

Even small changes in a general letter can generate huge results. People love to be part of exclusive groups. They like to be acknowledged as having traits or characteristics that make them stand out from the crowd, something that makes them unique. You can take the same letter and by tailoring a few words here or there in the text of the letter, you can target a smaller segment of your list of prospects or customers. This type of list or database segmentation increases your odds of success because you’re acknowledging a trait or characteristic of your audience that they also acknowledge to be true. As a result, they’ll read it and think you’re directing it to them. It doesn’t take as much to personalize a letter as you might think. The important thing is that however you segment your list, make sure that the trait you used to segment the list is accurate. Using our earlier example of attending a seminar or not, if you send me a letter that says I should attend one of your seminars or software demos and I’ve already gone to one, I’m going to think it’s just a form letter, not target marketing.
I’m looking for examples of how you’re using target marketing. Please send me stories of your successes in targeted marketing or examples of materials you’ve used for a targeted marketing campaign. Send me your success stories, or examples of where you need to fine tune at tbraden@marketleadership.net. If you’d rather be interviewed, give me a call at 614-932-0655. I’ll use them as examples in future blogs (with or without your name, as you prefer).

In future blog postings, I’ll talk about how to do database marketing, so you don’t get caught sending the wrong message to a customer or prospect. I’ll also be talking about message to market match and different types of communications with your customer and prospects. Stay tuned.