The Importance of Targeted Marketing

July 1st, 2009 in Entrepreneurship

One thing I notice many entrepreneurs try to do is reach as many people as possible with their marketing efforts. Sure reach is a key metric of the success of any marketing campaign; however, many entrepreneurs and marketers tend to overlook the value of targeting.

I’ll cite an example I see everyday walking through the UC Berkeley campus. Day in and day out there are hundreds of students all giving out fliers and pamphlets for events to any student that will take them. While this marketing tactic may reach a great number of students, what good is this reach if it isn’t targeted. Most of the students’ will immediately discard the flyer without even looking at it and those who do most likely won’t attend whatever event the flyer is advertising.

I have found in my experience that targeted marketing tactics, despite the fact that they reach far fewer people than mass marketing tactics, boast a much higher conversion rate and ROI (return on investment). After all, if people are interested in your products and services, chances are they are much more likely to respond positively to your marketing tactics.

I know this may seem obvious, but it is something that many new entrepreneurs, including myself, have gotten caught up in. Don’t look only on the pure statistics of how many people you can reach, but rather spend time focusing on carefully targeting your marketing campaigns so that you can reach people who may actually buy your products and services.

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5 Comments

Ryan Freed

July 1st, 2009

This is very true, insightful post. You would rather reach your target market rather than people not interested in your product.

Evan

I agree with your direct advertising idea, but i think at first you need to be the person handing out the flyers. This way you can get a better idea of who your customer is. You may think you know your customer, but then be totally surprised by the people buying your products or using your services.

After you do this then i think it is important to do conduct in targeted marketing.

Richael | Domain Marvelous

Could not better agree with you, Aditya. Internet Marketers, often in the quest to get as much traffic as possible, often forget the golden idea that targeted customers convert higher. I run a domain specific blog; even if my traffic base is low, I know that majority of my reader are targeted. If I decide to monetize my blog later on, I can expect a greater PPC click through ratio and maybe better sales through my affiliate programs.