This post is all about how you can increase your sales and enquiries, by using a targeted approach to your marketing.
A great product or service, with an excellent marketing message, will still fail to generate sales – unless that message is reaching a targeted group of prospective customers. That’s why it’s so important for you to target the marketing of your services, to the right people.
Targeted marketing
If Bob gets a well-written marketing message in front of 10,000 people, who have no need for his services and no ability to pay or obtain credit – he’s unlikely to make a single sale. However, if Bob gets that same great message in front of just 10 people; each with a real need for his services and the ability to pay – he’s likely to make a number of sales!
Blogging and targeted marketing
Fortunately, one of the best ways to get an extremely valuable, targeted audience for your business, is either free or very inexpensive. I’m talking about blogging!
Whilst it takes time to set up a blog and add regular, interesting content – the financial cost of blogging is extremely low. Great news for any small businesses who are struggling financially right now, yet still have time available for marketing.
So, how do blogs attract targeted prospects?
There are two main reasons why blogs attract such targeted prospective customers / clients.
Firstly, there’s SEO
A nicely designed blog, with good SEO, (search engine optimisation) and interesting content relating to your profession, will attract people who are interested in your area of expertise. Although the numbers will be low to begin with, you can develop a great audience or marketplace for your services over time.
Secondly, blogs are read by bloggers
I read stacks of blogs each day and it seems I am not alone! I’ve been running a Reader Poll on jimsmarketingblog.com for the past 2 weeks; asking my readers if they own a blog. Interestingly, around 90% of the 300 or so people who voted, said “YES!”
So, someone reads something of interest on your blog, which they then mention on their blog. Suddenly, their readership is alerted to your work and you get a stack of new, targeted readers! Many of these new readers will be bloggers too – helping you reach more and more people.
This kind of targeted readership is ‘marketing gold dust’ for you and your business. These people are reading your blog because they already have an interest in, or need for, your subject. So, if they see you as someone with the answers they need in your area of expertise, who better for them to call / email when they want to hire someone?
Targeted readers come from focused content
In my experience, the blogs that attract the most targeted readers, are the blogs that offer the most focused content. Some blogs suffer from diversifying too much. As a result, they attract a fractured readership.
Conversely, by blogging about subjects directly relevant to your services / products, you get to attract not only a readership, but a community! Jimsmarketingblog.com is an example of a community blog. That’s because the blog’s readers, commentor’s and myself all share a common interest in sales, marketing and business development.
How well do you target your marketing?
If you want to improve your sales figures, a great place to start is by looking at how well you target your prospective customers / clients. If you are a commercial blogger, (blog as part of your business), and you want to attract a more targeted readership, ensure your posts are ‘on topic.’
If you are not already blogging, this might be a great time for you to start! Just make sure you are committed to investing the time required.