An important aspect of marketing online is the opportunity to achieve targeted, measurable results. However, marketers are told repeatedly by the Internet establishment that traffic is the solution to online success.
Based on the law of averages, this premise is not too far off the mark; the more people hit your site, the more responses you will receive. Quantity is therefore an important aspect of surviving online. If you want lots of hits, you want your site in front of as many eyeballs as possible.
But what about quality? What if these hits are uninterested visitors who will never buy from you? For those seeking a more cost-efficient means of selling more successfully online, attracting a higher quality stream of visitors -- interested, pre-qualified visitors ready to buy - is definitely a better alternative.
The challenge facing many is that they feel they must make a choice: Quantity versus quality. But this is not a choice to be made. Both can be achieved simultaneously by having a better target at which to aim and a better weapon with which to shoot.
It's called "focused marketing," which combines both niche and target marketing. Either will improve results, but by applying both results can multiply exponentially.
Niche Marketing
In the competitive 2,000's, the demand for specialized products and services will increase. If your site sells everything but the kitchen sink, chances are your audience will not perceive a value in buying from you any greater than from anyone else.
Remember price is never an issue - it is the value behind the price that is. And if your value is perceived as equal to that of others, the cheapest alternative wins.
The number of sales will increase dramatically if your site is narrowly centered on a specific theme or outcome. And the need to produce large quantities of visitors will lessen considerably.
Let's say your best client is the corporate executive and that your site receives 200,000 hits per month. If your site's message aims for the public at large, there will only be a small percentage of this ideal market hitting your site.
Let's say that percentage is 0.1%. This means that of 200,000 visitors, only 200 will be executives. And since your site is too general, an even smaller percentage of those 200 executives - say, 0.5% - will be interested in your offer and eventually buy (0.5% amounts to only one client for an entire month).
Now consider another site dedicated exclusively to corporate executives. Assume this site receives only 5,000 hits per month - agreeably, it's not a whole lot. But the percentage of those visitors falling into the target market will be 100%.
Furthermore, the percentage of interested leads will be greater. To be conservative, let's say it is only 5%. This means of 5,000 hits per month, one can achieve 250 sales.
The beauty of it is that it probably took a lesser investment of time, effort, and money to achieve 250 sales per month than it did to achieve one sale per month. Therefore, you definitely get more with less. By narrowing your market or focus, you broaden your chances of online success.
In short, the more specialized your web site or online business becomes, the more qualified, interested leads will come to you and the more sales you will generate.
Target Marketing
If you say your ideal client is a technical programmer, aged between 25 and 35, and earning over $25,000 per year. Your chances of reaching such an audience by plastering your link all over the Internet will be minuscule. And even if your message does happen to appear in front of your specific market, chances are it will go unnoticed due to the general nature of the location in which your message appears. Not good.
Your message should appear in front of people likely to read it and take action. If you promote your online business in places in which your target market is likely to congregate, it is true your costs will likely be higher. However, your cost-per-visitor (or cost-per-lead, even cost-per-sale) will decrease substantially.
Combining targeted and niche marketing can produce substantial improvements over non-focused marketing. By lessening your market as well as the market to which you advertise, you will proportionately increase your sales.
Based on the law of averages, this premise is not too far off the mark; the more people hit your site, the more responses you will receive. Quantity is therefore an important aspect of surviving online. If you want lots of hits, you want your site in front of as many eyeballs as possible.
But what about quality? What if these hits are uninterested visitors who will never buy from you? For those seeking a more cost-efficient means of selling more successfully online, attracting a higher quality stream of visitors -- interested, pre-qualified visitors ready to buy - is definitely a better alternative.
The challenge facing many is that they feel they must make a choice: Quantity versus quality. But this is not a choice to be made. Both can be achieved simultaneously by having a better target at which to aim and a better weapon with which to shoot.
It's called "focused marketing," which combines both niche and target marketing. Either will improve results, but by applying both results can multiply exponentially.
Niche Marketing
In the competitive 2,000's, the demand for specialized products and services will increase. If your site sells everything but the kitchen sink, chances are your audience will not perceive a value in buying from you any greater than from anyone else.
Remember price is never an issue - it is the value behind the price that is. And if your value is perceived as equal to that of others, the cheapest alternative wins.
The number of sales will increase dramatically if your site is narrowly centered on a specific theme or outcome. And the need to produce large quantities of visitors will lessen considerably.
Let's say your best client is the corporate executive and that your site receives 200,000 hits per month. If your site's message aims for the public at large, there will only be a small percentage of this ideal market hitting your site.
Let's say that percentage is 0.1%. This means that of 200,000 visitors, only 200 will be executives. And since your site is too general, an even smaller percentage of those 200 executives - say, 0.5% - will be interested in your offer and eventually buy (0.5% amounts to only one client for an entire month).
Now consider another site dedicated exclusively to corporate executives. Assume this site receives only 5,000 hits per month - agreeably, it's not a whole lot. But the percentage of those visitors falling into the target market will be 100%.
Furthermore, the percentage of interested leads will be greater. To be conservative, let's say it is only 5%. This means of 5,000 hits per month, one can achieve 250 sales.
The beauty of it is that it probably took a lesser investment of time, effort, and money to achieve 250 sales per month than it did to achieve one sale per month. Therefore, you definitely get more with less. By narrowing your market or focus, you broaden your chances of online success.
In short, the more specialized your web site or online business becomes, the more qualified, interested leads will come to you and the more sales you will generate.
Target Marketing
If you say your ideal client is a technical programmer, aged between 25 and 35, and earning over $25,000 per year. Your chances of reaching such an audience by plastering your link all over the Internet will be minuscule. And even if your message does happen to appear in front of your specific market, chances are it will go unnoticed due to the general nature of the location in which your message appears. Not good.
Your message should appear in front of people likely to read it and take action. If you promote your online business in places in which your target market is likely to congregate, it is true your costs will likely be higher. However, your cost-per-visitor (or cost-per-lead, even cost-per-sale) will decrease substantially.
Combining targeted and niche marketing can produce substantial improvements over non-focused marketing. By lessening your market as well as the market to which you advertise, you will proportionately increase your sales.
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