Who is it that your marketing is trying to engage with?
This I find is often a challenge for those of us who are B2B companies but one I am sure many of you will find challenging. You offer a service or product that arguably any business, anywhere, would benefit from. For example, arguably every business should invest in marketing regardless of industry. The fact and truth is, they won’t and don’t. The problem I found myself facing was on whom and where do we concentrate our marketing and sales efforts? Who should I write my content for? Which platforms should I use? How can I personalise my marketing if I don’t even know what industry or type of company I want to target?
The merry-go-round of target marketing
If this rings true for you, then the chances are you’ll have been around this merry-go-round more than once. Some of the symptoms of this include very generic and bland marketing that isn’t written for one particular person. You start one marketing campaign and activity after another hoping that something works, something will stick. You switch from one industry or customer group to another. If you had to describe in detail the person your marketing was designed to resonate with and speak to, how much detail could you give me? Do you know what keeps them awake at night?
Let’s take a moment to look at it from your potential customers’ perspective. They see a company marketing to them about their business and services. They have no idea if they need your service or if it’s applicable. You can’t be too specific for fear of putting off one potential customer over another.
The result? You carry on marketing at your potential customers and they switch off.
Industry versus pain
You have two options of stepping off the merry-go-round. The first is to choose an industry or niche customer group you want to specialise in. Ideally, you have background and experience in that industry, so you start with credibility. Secondly, you need to know the specific needs that industry has that you can service. If that’s you, then great. Being an industry specialist can be an incredibly successful strategy.
Your second option is to focus on your potential customers' pain points. What pain points do your customers share? What do they worry about? What do they spend their time trying to fix? If you focus your marketing on their pain points, that's where you will find your marketing and content resonates with them. Offer them solutions to their specific problems. Then you become a specialist not in an industry, but in solving specific problems your clients have.
Once you know which strategy you are going to take you can start to tailor your marketing messages, website copy and content to that strategy. You can get really focused on your ideal customer, their needs, challenges and goals. Do this and you’ll find your marketing starts to produce results.
