It may very well be that everyone is a potential customer,
but not everyone is going to be your customer. In point of fact, the vast
majority of people will never be your customer. This is not a bad thing and can
actually work to your advantage. In the first place, your business probably
lacks the resources and infrastructure to provide high-quality service to more
than two or three times the number of customers you have now. You probably also
haven’t built your business to scale-up in a hurry, which means a massive,
sudden influx of customers is more likely to overwhelm you than help you. Just
as important, the fact that your business probably serves a specific group
means you can engage in targeted marketing.
The heart of targeted marketing is honing in on that very
core of your customer base and increasing the number of customers who fit into
that profile. Those customers are your core because you serve them very well
and they know it. They come back to you because you meet their needs time and
time again. Expanding your customer base in this core area makes sense because
you aren’t just bringing the one-time bread and butter sale. You’re bringing in
people who will buy from you year-in and year-out. Growth in this core customer
base helps to secure your business over the long-term.
Targeted marketing also makes sense financially. Trying to
market to everyone is cost prohibitive. It encompasses too many media outlets
that will ask far more than you can reasonably afford to invest. When you
target your marketing to meet the specific profile of your ideal customer, it
eliminates most of the possible media outlets and lets you pick the very best
choice from a small pool. It also means that you’re getting your message in
front of a select group of potential customers who have a high probability of
needing what you have to offer. The individual costs for placing an ad or
delivering marketing collateral may be higher, but the overall costs tend to be
far lower and manageable.
Targeted marketing helps you to grow at a sustainable rate
with the kinds of customers you already serve well. Rather than trying to find
ways to serve customers your business isn’t really built for, you can jump
straight to providing the kind of top-tier service your business is built to
give. Tier 3 Marketing understands the importance of targeting the right
customers and can guide you through both demographic and geographic targeting.