Capturing Your Audience at the Right Time.
Allocating potential customers isn't as simple as most make it out to be. In reality, too many companies pay thousands of dollars to marketing agencies that aren't personalizing their product or service. But, how can you drive sales with someone else's strategy? Let's dive into our suggestive approach on capturing your audience.
Often times, I find myself immersed in conversations pertaining to micro moments or target based ads. Even more often, I witness marketers going about this all wrong. As the “data-selling” age comes to a close, we find ourselves facing a marketing realm full of consumer behavior instead. People don’t care about how many “likes” you have or how cool your website is – they want a solution to their problem right now. So, how do you capture them? When it the best time to strategize new acquisition? The answer is: there is no definitive answer.
I feel like you just looked at the computer screen sideways.. but, it’s true! As the industry continues to evolve, there is a general misconception about capturing your audience at the right time. Sure, you can mimic a strategy that inspires you, but who’s to say their following is interested in your product or solution? In my opinion, it’s just as effective as investing in a CPM campaign. The most troubling aspect is that people are actually attributing sales to this methodology. Just because your ad or marketing strategy makes sense to you, it doesn’t mean the same for your audience.
Have I lost you yet? That’s OK, I’m not going to bore you with reasoning, rather inspire you with strategy. So, instead of rambling, let me expand on a few simple steps that can help you capture your audience and budget at the same time. Hopefully, once you’re able to see where I’m coming from, the way you view marketing will change. If you’re already investing time in the development phase, then more power to you!
Create Your Brand Message
Messaging, regarding marketing, is far too often overlooked by marketers. It seems as though the buggy is being placed before the horse. Sure, your advertisement or post may be catchy, but if your message doesn’t make sense to your target audience, then you’re wasting valuable time and money. Have you ever seen a movie that sounded good? I think you catch my drift.. Setting yourself apart or creating your own niche presents the consumer with a unique opportunity they won’t find elsewhere. Once you develop the message that your brand lives by and solidify the solution you provide – you can move onto step two.
Develop Your Target First.
Once your messaging is complete, it’s time to paint a picture of your ideal customer. Traffic is great, but if your spending money attracting people that are only going to read your blog, then I ask you to reconsider. We live in a competitive era that is constantly bucketing consumers into assumptions. Assumptions are like metaphors – and not very adequate. For example, I bought Nike socks – so you can assume I’m going to buy Nike shoes.. But, what if I don’t wear sneakers at all? How do you know? Start by identifying what your customer looks like so you can transition into the next phase.
Research Your Personas
Establishing a target audience is essential to any campaign – but targeting them takes results to the next level. When most people think of personas, they assimilate a stereotype or demographic. Stay at home mom, or business professional always come to mind. But imagine the results you would garnish if you took each of these a few steps further. How about a stay at home fitness mom who is heavily involved at church and school. In most cases, your best bet to reach this persona is early in the morning or before bed. Exploring possibilities and testing your strategies will help you really uncover and capture your audience.
Create Your Capture.
Once you’ve developed your message, identified an audience, and created your personas – it’s time to plan accordingly. Now that you know your stay at home mom will be easily captured from 5-7am and 8-10pm, it’s time to unfold a campaign that resonates with them. Instead of shouting: “Hey Mom!” – consider a message they can relate to. Short phrases like, “long day?” or “early start” will more than likely attract them to the content your curating. Once you have their attention, present them with a purposeful message. But, don’t stop there. Determine what type of call-to-action is most effective. Getting them on-page is one thing, converting is another.
As you can see, capturing your audience at the right time takes more effort than guesstimation and your analyzing competition’s data. Brands that take the time to develop a strategy normally come out on top. If you’re in a rush to convert, remind yourself that a higher conversion rate is better than a poor campaign. For more information on how you can develop your own strategy, feel free to reach out.
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