The fundamental difference between marketing today and marketing 10 years ago is that your audience CONTROLS the conversation. This means that with today’s technologies, they can turn you ON or turn you OFF.
As a result, smart marketers are looking for ways to cause their target market to SEEK their marketing message. This is done by providing the audience with VALUABLE marketing material — this is called Content Marketing.
Providing valuable materials for your target market is not as difficult as you may think. The most effective tiny businesses are those that are always LISTENING to their target market and looking for ways to provide VALUE with their marketing efforts.
How To Listen To Your Target Market
Use Twitter - Say what you will about Twitter but there is one thing that cannot be questioned — it is an incredibly effective tool for LISTENING to others. What is typed into Twitter is (for the most part) completely open for everyone to view. This means that you simply need to find a handful of people on Twitter that meet your target market and read what they are saying.
Have Coffee – I know we are talking Internet marketing here but off line meetings are one of my favorite ways to get a read on my market. I do favors for people all the time and then follow up with an invite for a cup of coffee. I don’t do much talking at these meetings, but I do ask a lot of questions and I LISTEN.
Attend Meet Ups - This is another off line method of listening to your market. I love www.meetup.com because it gives you instant access to dozens of in person meet ups where you can LISTEN to your market. Assuming that you have chosen the meet ups that you attend strategically you will have access to numerous members of your market.
Send Out A Survey - Do you already have an email list with members of your target market? Send them a survey asking them what kinds of solutions they need. But be prepared to follow up on the suggestions you get, there is nothing more annoying than being asked what you need and then never hearing a word back concerning your input.
Read Other Blogs – Find the blogs in your niche that have an audience and begin following them. Read through the comments that are being made by the audience. Study the information that the blogger is presenting to this audience, it is apparently working for this blog and could work for yours as well.
What about you? What are you doing to listen to your target market?
Image credit: wolfpix
Tagged as:
blog comments,
content marketing,
meet up,
networking,
twitter
Marketing With Rabbit Ears
by Russ Henneberry
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The fundamental difference between marketing today and marketing 10 years ago is that your audience CONTROLS the conversation. This means that with today’s technologies, they can turn you ON or turn you OFF.
As a result, smart marketers are looking for ways to cause their target market to SEEK their marketing message. This is done by providing the audience with VALUABLE marketing material — this is called Content Marketing.
Providing valuable materials for your target market is not as difficult as you may think. The most effective tiny businesses are those that are always LISTENING to their target market and looking for ways to provide VALUE with their marketing efforts.
How To Listen To Your Target Market
Use Twitter - Say what you will about Twitter but there is one thing that cannot be questioned — it is an incredibly effective tool for LISTENING to others. What is typed into Twitter is (for the most part) completely open for everyone to view. This means that you simply need to find a handful of people on Twitter that meet your target market and read what they are saying.
Have Coffee – I know we are talking Internet marketing here but off line meetings are one of my favorite ways to get a read on my market. I do favors for people all the time and then follow up with an invite for a cup of coffee. I don’t do much talking at these meetings, but I do ask a lot of questions and I LISTEN.
Attend Meet Ups - This is another off line method of listening to your market. I love www.meetup.com because it gives you instant access to dozens of in person meet ups where you can LISTEN to your market. Assuming that you have chosen the meet ups that you attend strategically you will have access to numerous members of your market.
Send Out A Survey - Do you already have an email list with members of your target market? Send them a survey asking them what kinds of solutions they need. But be prepared to follow up on the suggestions you get, there is nothing more annoying than being asked what you need and then never hearing a word back concerning your input.
Read Other Blogs – Find the blogs in your niche that have an audience and begin following them. Read through the comments that are being made by the audience. Study the information that the blogger is presenting to this audience, it is apparently working for this blog and could work for yours as well.
What about you? What are you doing to listen to your target market?
Image credit: wolfpix
Tagged as: blog comments, content marketing, meet up, networking, twitter
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