A growing concern of many clients is how to reach niche audiences online. The web makes the promise of increased access to the “long tail” of consumer interests, but how do you capture that for B2B markets? Here is the approach that works.
Start: Concrete Understanding of Your Niche and Audience
Nothing can replace data and research when it comes to really knowing your audience. If your prospective audience is hard to find online, every aspect of your marketing plan has to be intensely accurate to make sure you’re getting the right message in the right channels online. We advocate doing complete user personas for your customer, and if your niche is really deep, you might have to invest in interviews and third party research in order to fully understand this market. If you have an established base for that customer segment, that will help, but if you don’t, prepare to spend 2-3 months of good preparation in your marketing plans.
Pick: Select Your Channels for Most Effective Reach
With niche audiences, you might not have a really good entry point for accessing the audience. For example, if you are marketing to veterinarians, you can connect through one of the many vet organizations, websites, or list services out there. But if you are reaching a group of professionals who have not united in the marketplace, you’ll have to find another way to find them. This can be done by finding other ways they may link up in professional organizations, or by going through another demographic link, such as age, income, profession and/or pain points. This is where good research will help you find this audience.
Develop: Provide The Community That Lacks For This Group
The marketing direction for this niche has to react to the needs of the consumer as we’ve stated. Because you know they have no real professional grouping, providing a forum or location that discusses the pains, gains, and experience of your niche creates an organic “community” for your customer. This is a powerful approach for an informal customer group that is yet to be organized.
Companies that are able to connect first on the community will have two main benefits. First, they can capture the audience and control the messaging across the channel. Second, you’ll have the ability to use the group to further research your demographic.
Plot: Plan for the Long Game of Niche Marketing
This is where the ‘cream rises to the top’ in the marketing game. Who can really hold out and push into the market with enough duration to make an impact? Trying to reach a new audience is a game of endurance. You’ll need the budget and feedback in metrics to stay on the hunt. Don’t give up too early and don’t let the plan go without taking critical reviews of your data. Be sure to return to refine your campaigns to find the right customers.
Final Thoughts
Finding a new market online takes a lot of patience and dollars, but the results can be game-changing for any company. There are methods for increasing your odds in finding the right audience, and you need to use them throughout your campaign to continually stay on the track of your customer. With the right mix of planning and perseverance, you can uncover new markets with your digital marketing.
