Market trends
If there is one marketing expert trend prediction which has exceeded expectations it is microtargeting. Sitting at the polar opposite end from the usual head-skimming mass of corporate campaigns, microtargeting aims to identify the interests of individuals or small niche groups. Far from being too narrow in its reach, this novel marketing strategy allows businesses to create highly relevant and effective content which is guaranteed to suit the needs of those exposed to it.
Fulfilling the optimum one-to-one relationship between businesses and their specific consumer base; microtargeting aims to emulate a direct conversation between the two.
Additionally, Google’s call for more original ‘rich’ content and crackdown on recycled mass-advertising campaigns has brought microtargeting to the forefront of strategy. With this in mind, microtargeting is most certainly set to play a central role in the future of the marketing world. With a small amount of effort, you can harness its power using our three ways on how to micro target an audience.
1. Do your research
Firstly, and perhaps most importantly is collecting information about your niche audience. Microtargeting works at an individual level, segmenting people on the basis of their past behaviour to predict their future responses. This sort of information can be gained through analytic software which collects data on consumer behaviour and response. There are, however, some much simpler routes of research which are just as effective.
Social media offers endless possibilities in gauging the collective interests of niche groups and networks. Facebook, for example, allows businesses to contact and navigate trends of behaviour of very specific groups in terms of industry, gender, age, personality, income, and region. Additionally, micro-blogging sites such as Twitter can prove invaluable when researching what your audience are talking about, the topics they are interested in, and the types of people that they are connecting with.
Even using simple polls on your own website may yield some interesting and useful demographic information which can be put to use. Be sure to word your questions simply and do not ask your audience too many — this can be off-putting for anyone viewing a website.
2. Identify your audience's attitudes, needs, and aims
After collecting all of this information, the next step is to use it. You should be able to micro-segment your target audience: grouping people who share many of the same characteristics, traits, and behaviors. This will lead to the identification of the questions each segment are asking, where they are discussing them, and how you can answer them with your microtargeting campaign.
One of the most important aspects of microtargeting is discerning the preferred route that your target uses to communicate with. This should influence your decision on which medium you will choose for your micro targeting campaign; mirroring the optimum choice of your niche.
3. Create relevant, original, and rich content
The final step to complete your successful microtargeting campaign is to create and disseminate quality content which matches your audience's attitudes, needs, and aims. This means, rather than marketing to a generic audience in an unbound time frame, situate your content in the here and now — address their specific needs of the time.
Your content should be current: relating to recent events, trends, and activity trails of your audience, whilst remaining somewhat unique in its angle from other content in the field. This original content will provide the basis of your one-to-one conversation: speaking directly to your target market. However, actually having something new to say is the next tricky step.
Nevertheless, with microtargeting allowing you even more power in guaranteeing a positive response from your audience, these three basic steps can ensure that your next marketing campaign is a success. Gone are the days of mass communication — the future of effective marketing is taking a more direct route.
For more tips, resources and insights from The Formations Company, check out their website here.