Why Are Clients Like Fish?

Posted on December 2, 2009 by Jodi Kaplan

Fisherman know that if they want to catch any fish, they need to go to the right spot.

Marketers need to do that too. You figure out what kinds of fish (clients) you want to attract and go where they are. Right? But wait, you’re going to need one more thing.

Catch Clients With Bait

Worms, squid, and flies work for fish. Not so much for people. You’ll need the kind of bait that attracts people; specifically your preferred kind of people. Choosing the right bait can make a big difference in whether you catch a lot of fish (clients) or no fish at all.

How to Bait Your Audience

Free e-books

Put together a series of blog posts, articles, or write something completely new. Pick a topic that vexes your audience and help them through it (“How to Hire a Copywriter”, “10 Questions You Should Ask Before You Hire a Web Designer – and the Answers To Each One”).

You can either use ebooks as bait for a signup to your newsletter. Or, you can spread them virally, with no sign-up required. The first way grows your list of qualified prospects for your services or information products; the second gets more downloads and spreads faster.

Viral and How-to Videos

These can be viral videos – something that’s funny, interactive, and spreads the word about your company. Or, they can be how-to videos, showing how to create a “buy now’ button or a favicon.

Another idea would be a demonstration of your skills; reviewing someone’s Web site design and pointing out improvements that will boost conversions.

Build a community

A membership site or a community of some kind lets your clients and potential clients interact with each other. You can step in and tell them about projects you’re working on (guidance on how-to), encourage them to help each other, encourage them to connect with each other, and offer inside tips that the rest of the world doesn’t get (if the forum requires membership).

This strengthens ties to you, increases your authority and builds trust.

Teleseminars/Webinars/Podcasts

You can interview an expert, or give a series of talks. Make sure it’s informational, not a big sales pitch.

Like the ebooks, and the videos, you can use them to build your list (make sure you get permission for any further follow-ups), spread the word about your services, and establish yourself as an expert.

What other ideas can you think of? What experiences have you had with “bait”? What did you do and what results did you get?

grantsviews

Why Do You Really Need a Target Audience?

Posted on November 23, 2009 by Jodi Kaplan

Why do marketers always ask if you have a target audience? Why not just tell the client what to do? You know, a step-by-step tutorial. Isn’t marketing just marketing? Why does it matter?

It may seem odd, but there is method to this madness.

Target More, Spend Less

The reason we ask is because we’re trying to find out how to help you and what to recommend. It matters because what’s appropriate for a business trying to reach Fortune 500 companies is not suitable for a business who wants to sell hangers to local dry cleaners.

Choose the Right Message

If you were going to do a logo for a toy store, you’d choose different fonts, colors, and design elements than you would if you were creating a logo for a funeral home. The first should be lively and happy and bright. The second should be somber and reassuring.

Spending a lot of time creating a cheery logo for the funeral home would be a mistake. The client would be unhappy and you’d probably have to redo it (costing you time and money). If you spend a lot of time and money trying to reach “everybody,” you’ll end up with fewer clients (not more). Market to fewer people, and you’ll earn more.

Get More Money

You need a target audience so you know where to focus. Picture a real archery target. There’s a big red circle in the middle, and rings around it. Hitting the circle gets you 10 points. Hitting one of the rings gets you fewer points. The further the ring is from the center, the fewer points you get. If you miss the target entirely, you get nothing.

Marketing works the same way. If you hit the center of the target (your ideal customer) and you make money. Hit something close, you make some money, but not as much. Miss the target entirely, you get nothing.

Let’s say you’re selling car insurance for commercial fleets. Your ideal customer might be moving companies. A close second could be florists or contractors. They all have several vehicles, which get a lot of use, and have to be insured. On the other hand, copywriters and designers likely only need a single car, for their own use. Marketing to them (and I have personally received offers for this) is a complete miss. That sort of marketing is completely broken (and unfortunately, too common). It costs lots of money, but earns very little.

On the other hand, once you have a real ideal customer profile, you can then narrow down where you look for prospects, what to offer them. and how you reach them. Think like a fisherman. Go where the fish are.

Photo: Sachin Ghodke

What Every Marketer Can Learn from Fishermen

Posted on November 2, 2009 by Jodi Kaplan

fishing boat There’s an intense discussion going on in a forum I belong to, about whether you need a niche or not.

Do you? Or is it just a lot of nonsense? Why is a niche important?

Here’s why:

MORE MONEY

That’s right. More money. If you specialize you get more money.

In marketing, we call it a unique selling proposition – it’s a fancy bunch of words for whatever it is that makes you stand out (Hint: printing business cards for any small business is not a niche).

The reason that many people recommend finding a niche is that it’s much easier to market yourself that way. Trying to be all things to all people will doom you to failure.

There’s a nail salon near my home that also offers video transfer services. Would you trust your memories to a nail salon?

Think Like a Fisherman

Say you’re a fisherman and you specialize in tuna.

If you want tuna, you figure out where tuna congregate. Let’s see, tuna. Well they’re fish, so that eliminates land masses. You need water.

Now, what kind of water? Not ponds, or lakes, or rivers.

Oceans! Which part of the ocean? Cold water? Warm water? Close to shore? Far from shore? Etc.

You narrow down your target, instead of spraying and praying and hoping to hit something.

You Can’t Catch Fish with Strawberries

Then you think, OK I know where the tuna live, where’s the best spot to hang out to find them? What do they want to eat? What kind of tackle do I need to catch them? What can I do that will attract tuna to my bait?

So, You’re Not Really a Fisherman

A few more practical examples.

Say you’re a wedding planner. That’s not a niche, but what if you specialized in interfaith weddings – and the special issues that arise when different beliefs come together? You could make a name for yourself, and probably charge more money too.

Or, the Virtual Assistant for video producers. If you focus on video, you can go hang out at video industry events, read video industry magazines, and fix yourself in people’s minds as the “go to” person for the video industry. If you know who you’re talking to, and what problems they have, it’s going to be much easier to solve them.

See how it works?

What strategies do you use to attract your own “tuna”? Share them in the comments.

Photo: DeusXFlorida

Earn More Money Marketing to Fewer People

Posted on September 14, 2009 by Jodi Kaplan

Less gets me more? How can that be?

Focusing on a small group of people, instead of trying to sell to everyone, can actually get you more business. You need a niche.

But how do you find one?

Find your passion

First of all, think about what you like. Is your passion for design in a particular industry? Are you more drawn to pharmaceuticals? Or does your heart beat faster when you work on something for the music industry? If you’re passionate about something, the joy will come through in your work. You’ll be happier, and so will your customers.

Narrow it down

Next step is to narrow it down. Music is a big topic. Do you want to focus on big labels? Or up-and-coming indie country music artists? Be as specific as possible.

Check the market

Do some research. You may have a great idea, but there’s no sense going ahead with an idea without a market. So, do a little research to find out if a market exists. Here are some tools.

Market search tools

Google Blog Search. Look to see if there are blogs in your chosen market.
Magazines.com or Amazon magazine search (if there’s a magazine, there’s a market).
Check for trade associations (same principle as magazines)
Yahoo Groups
Keyword Search: Google Keyword Search, Firefox SEO plugin (see what people are looking for)

Become known as a specialist in a particular field, and you’ll be the go-to company. “Oh yeah, she’s the green exhibit designer.”

Next, you’ll need to figure out how to build trust in your chosen niche. More on that tomorrow.

Photo:poolie

What Can Archery Teach You About Marketing?

Posted on May 11, 2009 by Jodi Kaplan

“Targeting Gone Wild
Reach 70 million people at MySpace”

I saw an ad with that headline on ProBlogger, and whoever paid for it has indeed gone wild (and crazy too). That’s not targeting, that’s closing your eyes, praying, and hoping to hit something.

70 million? 70 million what? Does it really pay to market to that many random people?

A better approach would be to create a profile of an ideal customer, and market specifically to businesses that fit that profile. As in archery, the closer you get to the center of the target, the better your score (and your revenue). In archery, the target is pretty clear. There are rings, worth different numbers of points.

You get more points if your arrow hits the center, and fewer points if you hit one of the outer rings; no points at all for hitting the white background (or the haystacks). So, how do you improve your marketing aim?

Develop a biography of your ideal customer

If it’s a business, think about what size company you want to support. Fortune 500 companies work differently (move more slowly and have more paperwork) than smaller firms. However, they also have larger budgets. Think about the kinds of services you want to offer and whether they are more suited to a large or small firm. A small business may not need a sophisticated bookkeeping program, but a large business will.

Where are your customers located?

Worldwide companies will have different needs than local businesses. Public companies have different reporting requirements than private firms. Can you support large companies with branches in many cities or countries? A web designer can easily support an international clientele, but a caterer can’t.

Focus on a specific industry or industries

What areas are you most expert in? For example, establishing yourself as the go-to company providing marketing for electrical distributors or the social media guru for pet stores will help you grow your niche (and improve your revenue).

Who do you want to reach?

Are you looking for the CIO or an HR manager? The CIO will have different problems (and need different solutions) than the HR manager. For instance, while both may be customers for software services, the CIO may be much more concerned about data backup systems, while the HR manager needs software to track employee sick days and vacation time.

What’s their budget?

Don’t aim your $5,000 solution (no matter how wonderful it is) at someone who is only authorized to spend $500. Look for the decision maker. Allow time for a decision. Businesses to business marketing is a bit different that consumer marketing. Generally, the time lines are longer, more specs are required, and more people may be involved in the process.

The better your aim; the better your results.

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