As I have mentioned before, you must have each area, much like a 3 legged stool, or else your marketing won’t stand up.  So, in other words your marketing needs to say the right thing, to the . . . → Read More: Who?]]> Matt and I have spoken before about the 3 “M’s” of marketing.

• Message
• Market
• Media (delivery method)

As I have mentioned before, you must have each area, much like a 3 legged stool, or else your marketing won’t stand up.  So, in other words your marketing needs to say the right thing, to the right person, in the right way.

Today, I would like to delve into the market a bit more as I have had several questions about how to craft an effective message to the right person.  So, in honor of the great band about to play the Superbowl half time show, let’s delve into “The Who” of your marketing.

Now, there are a lot of things that go into the make up of your customer database.  I can hear some of you out there right now saying, “Sarah, everyone is my potential customer.”  To those people I say to read my puddle jumping blog post and then come back.    To everyone else that understands the need for marketing to a niche, let’s start by looking at your average customer.

Your average customer is the type of person that has bought from you most.  Every business has this in some way shape or form, you just have to look at the commonalities.  Maybe all of your customers tend to play golf.  Or maybe they all are females.  There is something out there that will make your customers into a group and show you more of their mindset.  To help clients with this I take them through an exercise called, “Who Are You?”

In this exercise we ask questions about our customers such as:

1. How old are you?
2. What gender are you?
3. What education level do you have?
4. Are you married?
5. Do you have children?
6. Do you have pets?  What type of pets and how many?
7. Do you own your own home?
8. What income level are you?
9. What career are you in?
10. What type of car do you drive?
11. What is your favorite kind of restaurant?
12. What are your hobbies?
13. What side of town do you live on?

This may seem like overkill to some of you, but let’s think through this.  Would you rather attempt to craft a marketing message to simply females, or would you like to craft a message to:

• a 31 year old female
• who is married
• with 2 young children
• has a golden retriever named Lilly
• owns her own home
• lives on the north side of town
• graduated from IU (go Hoosiers!)
• with a degree in accounting
• makes greater than $40,000/year
• drives a Toyota Rav4
• loves eating Italian
• enjoys running, hiking, and reading

Do you get the point?  It is much easier to write a marketing message when you have more information about the person whom you are writing to.  Otherwise, you are merely shooting in the dark as you try to connect with the core beliefs and values of half the population.

For more on this topic, be looking for our audio series on the 3 “M’s” of marketing.

Happy Marketing!

Sarah