Many marketers make the mistake of jumping into blogging and posting or advertising on social media without considering who their target market is and what they want or need. Obviously, you must think about the customer and not about what you want to sell or what you like. When a potential customer lands on your website, they’re thinking, “What’s in it for me?”, “Can these people help me?”, “Do they have what I want?” “Can they solve my problem?” It’s about them, not about you!
It Takes Vision
It’s not a vision of what you want to do for yourself, but what you can do to better serve people. Many companies build or produce a product or service that they want rather than what the market wants or needs.
When you fill a need for others, wealth follows. That’s the reward, not the vision.
~David. L Steward, author, entrepreneur in “Doing Business by the Good Book” (Amazon Link).
One of the best, historic examples of this is Ford Motor Company’s 1957 Edsel. The name alone resonates with failure and it became the joke of the 1950s. Henry Ford wanted to honor his son, Edsel, with a very different car, priced between the Mercury and the Lincoln, competing with General Motors. The Edsel had:
- Debatable styling
- State-of-the-art equipment – like push button controls for the transmission on the steering wheel
- Self-adjusting brakes
- Safety rim wheels
- And the ugly “horse collar” grill
The Problem: the Edsel was what Ford wanted to sell, but it was not what the public wanted to buy.
Fast forward a few years to 1964. Ford’s vision changed. The company saw a moderately-priced, 4-door sports car. They felt it filled a void in the market. Hence the Mustang was born and in its first year, set a sales record of over 400,000 sold with profits over $1 billion. Not bad for 1964!
The difference: They researched. They looked at the automobile market and created what they saw was missing. The Ford Mustang is still considered “America’s Sports Car.” A totally different image than the Edsel!
A more current example of not understanding a target audience is Apple’s “Crush” ad for its new iPad Pro:
It caused a huge backlash among creatives. So much so, that they’re not going to release it to television.
There are many things to consider before you jump into marketing your business:
- Is your product or service unique? What makes you different?
- Does it fill a need for a decent-sized market — big enough, but not too big.
- Can that target market afford it?
- Is there enough interest?
- Do you have an Edsel or a Mustang?
- How have the current economic conditions affected your target?
Free Define Your Target Market Workbook
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If you haven’t figured this out yet, this free download may help. The Free Define Your Target Market Workbook will help you think of who your best customer is and some of their buying habits. Once you’ve got your market clearly defined, then with a little research, strategic and tactical plans, you can get started marketing on social media.
Taking one step at a time you can Take Control of Your Marketing!
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