Here’s why staying focused can influence buyers Every day, we are all bombarded with marketing messages. Why do some have such a powerful influence over our buying decisions while others barely get noticed? Promoting a product should follow a natural flow. To capture buyers’ attention, savvy marketers know they must push their product’s message along a very definite path.
Promotions are probably the most confusing aspect of product marketing. Unless you stay incredibly focused, it’s easy to go off on a tangent and forget your main purpose. The sad (and often expensive) result can be a disjointed promotional campaign that only succeeds in confusing your audience – if they even notice it at all! Here are some steps to help you stay on track.
Step 1. Write down the name of your product.
This sounds simplistic, but for companies with more than one product there’s often a great temptation to throw something else into the mix. Don’t. Stick with one product. If you absolutely feel compelled to market multiple products simultaneously, create a separate promotional plan for each one.
Step 2. Determine your target market.
Identify the characteristics, demographics and geographic locations of the individuals or groups who have the need and means to buy your product. There are three strategies you may want to follow:
- Undifferentiated Targeting. This is where you treat the entire market as one group and deliver just one message.
- Concentrated Targeting. You may have multiple target audiences, but you tailor your initial marketing efforts to just one market segment. For example, your product may appeal to seniors and businesswomen. In this scenario, you may choose to focus strictly on businesswomen. Later, you can follow these same steps to build your seniors market.
- Multi-segmented Targeting. With this strategy, you develop a different message for each target audience. The larger your promotional budget, and the farther down the line you are with your product development, the more likely you’ll use the multi-segmented approach. My personal recommendation is to take one market segment at a time, which is how most successful new product promotions are planned. Trying to reach too many markets at once is confusing. It’s just too easy to get into trouble.
