Tag: targeting
Very basic marketing and SEO – Targeting
Like all direct marketing principles, targeting is entirely logical.
Yes, the world is your database. But it makes sense to aim your products at the people you know are likely to be interested instead of blatting your message out to everyone in the known universe and beyond.
Offline, targeting has serious cost implications. It saves a bomb on direct mail postage costs by contacting people who are statistically the most likely to buy. Mass email marketing costs less than nothing, but spamming is just lazy when there’s so many great opportunities for intelligent online targeting.
Targeting has SEO implications too. Say you sell freelance copywriting services in Sussex. Instead of choosing the key phrase freelance copywriting, which is very competitive, pick key phrases that directly reflect your niche. These will be longer by nature. Including phrases like freelance copywriting in East Sussex gives you a much better chance of getting your site in front of searchers looking for exactly what you’re selling. Not just something in the ballpark.
How can you tell if people are probably in your target market? If they…
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have bought your products before
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have bought products like yours before
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have shown an interest in buying your stuff, or stuff like it
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have bought complementary products. For example you might sell a tie to someone who has just bought a smart office shirt
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imply their interest by registering for your newsletter
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enter your competitions
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have contacted you to ask a question
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belong to a professional body, forum or network that’s relevant to your products, services or industry
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subscribe to relevant websites or trade magazines
The thin line between targeting and Big Brother
Direct marketing and targeting go hand in hand. As a general rule targeted segments respond better than random segments, delivering a higher ROI. But can targeting be taken too far?
Facebook and Ebay target their on-site advertising based on your profile and/or previous history. Which sounds reasonable. But life isn’t that simple. Make too many assumptions and you can alienate people.
I give to animal, wildlife and environmental charities via Ebay’s charity donation system. Which used to mean my Ebay account was stuffed with animal charity ads and not much else. Because I didn’t want Ebay deciding what I could and couldn’t see, I turned the option off. Now I’m enjoying random ads again. That’s better!
Then there’s Facebook. Based on my profile Facebook ‘thinks’ I’m in the market for wedding dresses and menopause treatments. Hm. Yes, I’m forty eight. Yes, I’m engaged to be married for the first time. But frankly, Facebook’s targeting is more offensive than inspiring.
And there’s Google. Google claims they can use your search history to improve the search results it delivers. But I’d rather Google didn’t make value decisions on my behalf. When I search the internet I want access to everything, not just the bits Google thinks I’ll like.
OK, it makes total sense to target fishing rod offers to people who enjoy fishing, rather than any old Tom, Dick or Harry. But beyond that, targeting should be handled with great care. Otherwise you risk tipping over the edge into Big Brother territory.
If you want to stop Google keeping hold of your search history, just hit the little blue spanner in your Google toolbar and switch it off.
Marketing and targeting in a nutshell
Thanks to Drayton Bird for these two small but perfectly formed little gems:
- The golden rule of marketing is – give your customers what they want
- The golden rule of targeting is – go where your customers go
Perfect. If you’d like to get a regular email from Drayton, each packed to the rafters with the best in direct response wisdom, just register on his home page here.
Use niche business directories for tightly targeted marketing
Take advantage of niche business directories’ soaring popularity
It’s always wise to aim marketing firmly at your target audience.
Advertising your services where you know your prospects hang out is much cleverer than spreading yourself thinly all over the place. It gets better results. It saves time. And it avoids wasted effort.
There’s a growing raft of niche business directories online. Which makes sense from a search engine and user perspective. It means people can rummage happily around a directory bursting with exactly the kind of stuff they’re looking for.
And because search engines recognise niche directories as both authoritative and relevant, there’s an SEO benefit to being part of a targeted directory too.
Seach for niche directories relevant to your site’s key words and key phrases, use those key words and phrases in your submissions and you’ll be bang on target.
Website copywriting Case Study: target your copy effectively
Here’s a classic example of copywriting with a distinct target audience in mind.
The Brief: re-write a Pelvic Toner website to encourage more visitors and sales.
As a rule pelvic toners are bought by women who suffer from pelvic floor weakness. But the copy for the original pelvictoner.biz site had been written by a bloke. The product helps women exercise their pelvic floor muscles back to fitness. A side effect is that it enhances your sex life.
The copywriter had majored on the sex angle and used a lot of serious medical-sounding content. A factual approach that, while it works very well for most men, can seem slightly disturbing (and creepy!) to women. So I recommended rewriting the copy with a female focus:
Bringing forward the benefits that most women would focus on: stress incontinence, ageing and post-childbirth weakness.
Putting forward the sales message using a lifestyle angle: feel good, get close to your partner again, release the real you…
The result? Here’s a link to the new site: www.pelvictoner.biz.
Since launch the site owner has seen a significant increase in average orders per day. The moral of the tale? If your target audience is male, write for men. If it’s female, write for women. If it’s both, write for both. If it’s kids, write for kids. Think about who your target audience is. Establish what they want to hear and how they want to hear it. Then give them what they want.
