Infuse Zeal

Is winning customers forcing you to customize your offering like the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle? You aren’t alone.

Your prospects have a lot of information at their fingertips. They also have a range of options for what they need.  They can be more selective now.  Your prospects – with their different user profiles, demographics, and industries – are looking for very specific solutions. A generic solution doesn’t cut it anymore.

What does this mean for your business? Grow your business by capturing different market segments, or niches. Chris Anderson introduced the idea in his book, The Long Tail.

First Step – Learn All About Your Segments and Niches

You can segment your total market based on the niches within it.

One simple idea that gives you a lot of information about your target segments is keyword research. Google Adwords has a very useful tool that gives a wide range of related keywords. Look for the keyword phrases that have three or four keywords.

For example, if you sell smoothie products, look for long tail keywords such as “fruit smoothies for diabetics,” “organic fruit smoothies,” or “smoothies using froze fruits.” These long phrases will tell you a lot about which segments have business potential.
There are many other tools available for research such as Compete, KeywordSpy, and SpyFu.

Second Step – Tailor Marketing Campaigns to Talk to Specific Niches

Adapt your message for every segment. One size fits all doesn’t work anymore.

One easy way to fine tune your strategy quickly, learn more about your target audience and generate leads is Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

Select niches relevant to you. Generic keywords are highly competitive, so it is a lot easier to build your search engine rankings with niche keywords. This brings you traffic to your website, which helps your branding and lead generation.

Again, if you are trying to rank highly for the more competitive term “fruit smoothies,” you might end competing with major food manufacturers. If you narrow the term down to ‘fruit smoothies for diabetic people” suddenly your competition is a lot less intense.

You can also use email marketing to establish direct connections with your audience.

Look for user groups, trade shows in the segments of your choice, and see how you can leverage those to your benefit.

Third Step – Solidify the Niches

Design and adapt your website to cater to different segments.

In the case of smoothies, part of the website may address the needs of diabetic people. What do they need to know? What’s special in the smoothie products specifically for them? What would you like them to do? What will make them more comfortable in taking that action?

I am going to write more about this in a post later in this series.

Use web analytics.

Marketing is measuring.

With analytics, you can learn how your prospects behave and think. Use the insights to refine your understanding and marketing campaigns.

When you follow these three simple steps, you will be surprised how quickly you can gain market share, and also learn how to refine your business strategy over time.