It goes without saying that in order to sell something you probably need to know who you are selling to, right? Well over and over again I have asked business owners about the specifics of the demographics they are approaching and haven’t gotten the same out of the box answer. A brief synopsis of Gender, Income, and Geography, sometimes with a couple extra nuggets in there.
Here’s the term I like to use for that “Old School” and we are living in the “New School”, so sometimes we have to adapt. The amount of demographic information available to the modern marketer is far above what was available just a few years ago, let alone a few decades. In order to maximize your advertising spend online and your marketing efforts you need to have a deep understanding of your avatars, wants, needs, and why they might open their wallet to buy your product or service.
Of course we all know how great we are, but that is simply not enough. You have to be great to the right people. You have to start somewhere. Facebook didn’t get to 2 Billion plus users over night. They are very savvy marketers that knew which avatars to approach first and then it spread like wildfire. In the early days of social media it was typically only younger people using these platforms. Now you see everyone from infants to Great Grandparents using the platform and this isn’t by chance. They knew the need that needed to be filled and they filled it with those that would be most receptive first. The same demographics that dictate music trends, fashion trends, and countless new trends.
So how does this relate to your business? Well its pretty simple, everyone isn’t your market. Even the giants know that! Using terms like business owners in x city or other general demographic information is truly a waste of time.
So how do you get the most out of digital marketing?
ID Who You Think is Going to do Business with you.
- Get down to the brass tacks of problems you are solving and who might best respond to your solution.
- Segment your avatars ( I recommend starting with at least 4)
- Get a solid avatar profiling sheet – CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR AVATAR WORKSHEET.
Set up your Analytics and Test!
- If you have no analytics how do you know who your market is? In short – you don’t you are just guessing without having data.
- Run some ads or campaigns to pin down your demographics, using proper analytics.
Review
- Now that you have your original guesses and data to compare, review them against one another. You might be surprised by what you find!
I would not claim that this is easy or doesn’t take work, but if you are anything like me your business is your baby. It puts food on the table and is worth spending time on. I have seen too many people fall into the trap of digital marketing success stories. People that made millions “overnight”. While there are some extreme examples, you don’t hear about the countless failures and hard lessons learned before they got there. Digital Marketing has a varied history and new success requires new strategies. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!
Local Blitz Marketing
858.924.2344