Your target audience is killing your Marketing ROI !
Defining your target audience also known as the buyer persona is the first thing that I cover in my Social Media Education Track at the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce. This is where most marketing executives and entrepreneurs get tripped up! Because they haven’t defined their buyer persona, they spend excessive amounts of their marketing budget for very little returns.
Last week I had a chat with a senior marketing director at a management consulting firm and when I asked her for the firm’s buyer persona, can you guess the answer?
They don’t have a buyer persona document because their firm has so many different types of clients. Most companies have this problem! I see this with every entrepreneur cohort that attends my social media track. This is why I see such lousy marketing messages. It's because your services or product is for everyone! So, your messaging targets everyone and resonates with no one! And the net result of your marketing efforts? 0% ROI !!!
When Steve Jobs introduced the Apple iPod, he didn’t say like so many others, “I have this new battery-operated device to play music that features a 5GB hard drive and a FireWire port. It can be used by runners, cyclists, students, professionals, and soccer moms.” No! No! No!
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Steve Jobs said, “One thousand songs in your pocket.” The target audience is clear, people who love music and need their music to be available wherever they are. Steve Jobs then drove further demand by appealing to a broader audience by making the iPod cool and trendy back in 2001. The cool and trendy part was designed into the product and is a discussion point for another time.
When you have defined your target audience, your marketing message will be clear, and you will see a significant return on investment from your marketing campaigns. Otherwise, you are just wasting your time and money.