A few year ago, my local sports channel, the one I watch my poor Cleveland Indians on, started doing something kind of neat, maybe to distract themselves from the games they had to present. When different batters would come up, the announcers would bring up a graphic showing where the hitter tended to direct the ball. They would show percentages. Maybe the hitter hits 75% of his hits to left field, just 3% straight on to center, and 20% to right field. It’s interesting to see how different hitters approach the intricacies of baseball. Some hitters are clearly okay spraying the ball all over the field, while other hitters, well, it’s clear they have a sweet spot.
In marketing, the same holds true. Some companies seem okay spreading their marketing messages over as wide an audience as possible. Other companies, though, have a sweet spot, a target that they want to hit more than any other. Whether your business thrives on reaching people in your locale or whether your business depends upon people in certain industries, it can be a challenge to try to reach out *just* to those people who mean most to you.
With that in mind, here are 7 powerful ways that to reach your niche audience.
1. The Press Release: I know that a lot of people in the Social Media world have consigned the press release to death. However, if done well, a press release can accomplish a lot for marketers trying to reach a precise target. A press release can be sent to publications that reach just that audience. A press release can speak directly to the people who mean most to you. If you make sure that your press release utilizes a lot of important keywords that are relevant to your niche, you can also show up well in organic search results. Press releases are advantageous too because they often do not represent huge marketing investments. Pack a lot of punch for not a ton of money – pretty good deal, right?
2. Become a news anchor: One thing people are constantly attracted to online are sources of reliable information. It can take awhile to build your credibility and your reputation, but if you can situate yourself so that you are a strong source of industry or local updates, your targeted audience will learn to depend upon you and view you as an invaluable resource. Don’t limit this tactic to Twitter. Think about groups you can form on LinkedIn, updates you can make to your Facebook page, and more.
3. Make it seem like you’re everywhere: When you are trying to reach a small group of people, your resources do not need to go towards efforts that would give you a lot of attention and bandwidth, as tempting as those channels are. When you are trying to reach that target audience, you need to be everywhere they go. If a lot of people in your niche blog, work on becoming a really strong blogger. If your prospects and customers tend to gravitate towards newspapers and publications, find out what the favorites are and be strong there. Wherever someone in your niche goes, they should find you.
4. Be a person: One advantage of marketing to a smaller group is that you can actually spend time and resources putting faces to the names, and they, likewise, can get to know you. Think outside the box. How can you make people feel like they know you, or that you are talking directly to them? Talking to people on Twitter is a great way to accomplish this. Adding vlogging as an element to your blog lets people in your audience see your face and hear your voice. Mentioning key members of your audience in a blog post or in an e-newsletter builds a lot of loyalty. Think outside the box. Make it person-to-person.
5. Do the trade shows: Some people may argue that Social Media is negating the need for live events. However, when you are trying to reach a smaller group of people, what can be more memorable than a face-to-face, real-time, live conversation, including hand shakes and maybe a pat on the shoulder? What you can do at live events is take your Social Media etiquette with you. Use your presence at the show to meet with people who are important to you. Address their concerns. Ask them questions about how things are going for them. Don’t be an in-your-face salesperson. If you are present at a lot of events over a few years, people will even begin to search you out so that they can talk to you in person. This is how relationships can be solidified.
6. Listen for your cue: Perhaps one of the most unappreciated advantages of the new online world is that we can actually listen to people who represent our target audience. Using tools like Google Alerts, search.twitter.com, and Facebook search, we can seek out people who are asking the questions we want to answer or who are talking about problems that we can solve. If you handle these situations with appropriate grace and etiquette, you will find that not only are you winning customers in exactly the niche that you are shooting for, but you’ll also find that they will be extremely loyal to you and your brand. Why? They had a problem, and you helped them solve it, whether it was via your own products and services or via another reliable source. Remember, just like you want to be a human in your marketing, you must remember that all of your customers are individual humans, too.
7. Stay on message whatever you do: The most important thing, when you have a very specific group of people that you are trying to reach with your marketing message, is to have a message and stick to it. Everyone in your audience should understand what you can offer, what they can expect, and why you are there. Take the time to make sure that your direct mail piece is a reflection of your website. Make sure that your social media campaign reflects your monthly e-newsletter. If you are everywhere but have a different message for each place you go, you are not doing your audience or yourself any favors.
Now it’s your turn
What other ways are there to reach out to a specific group of people? This only skims the very tip of the iceburg, so I’d sure love to hear your input!
This guest post is brought to you by Margie Clayman of Clayman Advertising. She brings a new, fresh and very insightful perspective on advertising and social media regularly over at MargieClayman.com and always great conversation on Twitter at .
Image credit: http://www.sxc.hu/profile/kwschenk