Lucky you. Legions of industries and customers use, consume, embrace, and even devour the product or service provided by your business. You cover everything from retail to finance to public utilities. That’s one heck of a customer base. It’s also a major challenge dropped onto your sturdy shoulders – how do you connect with the diversity of market segments, each of which is ruled by its own mindset? Every group occupying space in the pool has its own preferences and tastes. Each digests info according to its own dictates. How can you possibly please so many divergent groups?
Well, you can identify common denominators applicable to this vast customer pool. History has shown, however, that such misguided attempts generally water down the best of messages. Weak and diluted, the content falters at first siting.
The more productive and proven alternative is to speak directly to each group. Currently, the preferred language is targeted content. Customized for each segment, this finely-honed content strikes a resonant chord in all recipients. Bells ring, eyes open, and hand reach out in a warm welcome for your brand. You’ve just served your customers something that tastes incredibly good!
Equally important, you’ve served it in a preferred manner. Video, blog, white paper, email, short-form, long-form, a combination of all … the modes of delivery are many and growing. Like it or not, each segment wants it their way. Brands that deliver carelessly likely will miss the mark by a country mile … even if their messaging is spot-on.
For brand marketers, the mission is clear: develop targeted content solutions matched to each industry or segment served. To that end, research that identifies audience characteristics is imperative. This investigative step will uncover precious info regarding both content and delivery method.
Once this information is in the vault, designated squads can construct campaigns targeted to each segment. The key is linking messaging to a topic relevant to a particular group. For instance, a software developer targeting finance companies might address the topic of mortgage calculations, clearly demonstrating a product’s ability to streamline the process.
Important caveat: While individualization is essential to target marketing, strategists should never veer from the path of consistency. Every message, while unique in form and delivery, must at the same time stand on a common ground; display a certain look and feel. This consistency is crucial for maximizing brand impact and recognition.
If you have any questions or comments about targeted content marketing, or about any other brand-related topic, feel free to send them our way.