Understand Their Online Habits
The very first and most important step to reaching your small business’ ideal target audience is understanding who they are and what their typical buying habits are. As part of your small business marketing plan, you’ll dive into this topic during the “insight” portion. Understanding your target audience’s buyer’s journey is key to gaining critical insight on how to reach them both online and offline.
Successful online marketing that reaches your target audience starts with finding out where they are hanging out online. Which social media networks does your ideal client frequent? What blogs do they read regularly? Where do they look first for information and answers to their questions? Understanding the answers to these questions about your target audience will help you spend time and money on the marketing efforts that will reach them directly.
Create Specific Valuable Content
Once you understand your target audiences online hang outs and typical buying habits, you can create very specific and valuable content to attract them and then guide them through their buyer’s journey. Content such as blog articles, downloadable guides, checklists, templates, videos and workshops are all great ways to specifically target your ideal client and provide them with information that they want and need. Cater your content to your ideal clients’ problems and offer up solutions and information that they will find valuable. The goal is to become the expert resources for your ideal client, their go-to source for information about specific topics that relate to your industry.
Consistency
It’s not enough to create one blog article or downloadable offer and call it a day. Consistency is key when it comes to staying in front of your target audience. Keep your business top of mind for your target audience by consistently marketing to them, using content that is specific and valuable to them. Stay on top of your social media posting and engaging as well as your email marketing strategy to ensure that your audience is consistently engaging with you!
We recommend posting a blog article at least once per week, sending out an email to your database at least twice per month and creating one new lead magnet every other month!
Want an easy way to stay on top of consistently creating, posting and sharing with your target audience? Download our free content calendar template here.
Share, Share, Share!
One marketing strategy many small businesses forget to include is sharing great content. Of course, you will be regularly sharing your own content and that’s a great start! However, sharing other reputable and valuable content is important in order to reach your small business target audience. A monthly newsletter is a great way to include your own content and call to actions as well as other industry specific trends and news. You should also share other content on your social media pages, making your posts less about your business and selling your services but more about providing meaningful and useful information to your audience. This will increase your clout as the industry expert and go to source, as well as offer up opportunities for other people to share your content by building a relationship.
Gather Feedback
No matter what business you’re in or what target audience you are trying to reach, gathering feedback is essential to understanding how to reach your ideal customer. Gather feedback from your current clients about their buying journey to obtain deeper insight. Understand what brought them to you, what they liked about working with you, what they would say when recommending you, etc. When you finish with a client, consider sending them a survey to learn more of their feedback and what more they may need. You can also use this method in order to gather insight into where they hang out online and what content they want to consume!
Get online reviews! Reach your target audience by improving your online presence. This means having as many opportunities to get found via search as possible. Online review sites, guest blogging opportunities, specific landing pages for your targeted personas are all great ways to increase your online presence.
Key Takeaways:
- Understanding your small business ideal target audience is the first and most essential step to reaching them. Complete the insight portion of your small business marketing plan in order to get this information!
- Consistency, specific content, and sharing are all the best ways to reach the audience you need in order to increase sales.
- Improve your online presence by gathering reviews and getting found on search. Get feedback from clients to better understand their buying process and what content you should be creating to reach them!