Not Everyone Is Your Customer

Trust me, this is a good thing.

It’s common knowledge that branded merchandise is both purchased and used by a wide variety of industries. In fact, this is the exact reason so many people started selling promo in the first place – the need for it as an impactful advertising vehicle, regardless of the audience. And, while perfectly decorated nuggets of promotional marketing appeal to an enormous group of people, it simply doesn’t make sense to try to market to everyone.

Think of it this way: the more potential customers you want to reach, the more time, effort, and money it’s going to cost you to influence them. It’s not about excluding potential clients; it’s about deciding where to burn the necessary calories to maximize your investment. Focusing your attention on a targeted segment of companies interested in buying promotional merchandise will enable you to communicate more directly and engage with that segment more deeply.

A target audience is unique to each business, product, and service. Therefore, it’s critical to observe the following three steps to ensure you are spending your resources to maximize the return.

Know Your Value – Understanding how to leverage targeted and effective branded merchandise to address specific marketing issues for potential clients is the critical first step. What unique aspects of your expertise and/or brand message relate directly to potential clients? Do you have extensive experience in e-commerce solutions, employee retention, new product launches, or something else? Think in terms of how your company has solved business problems that potential clients wrestle with daily. As you go through this exercise, keep in mind that it is ultimately about the value your clients see in you, not the value you hope they see.

Develop an Ideal Client Profile – An ideal client profile is far more than just a list of potential accounts in your geographical area; it’s an in-depth description of who the target client may be and includes the following:

• Primary attributes – What main traits of a target company fall into your wheelhouse: the size of the organization, number of employees, type of institution, annual revenue, how they go to market, etc?

• Secondary attributes – These are other aspects of target clients that align with your value proposition, such as the type of culture, diversity initiatives, and specialty markets.

• Industries – Target areas where you believe your services will add the most value, including examples of past work, but drill down to specific details. For example, stating you want to focus on the hospitality industry isn’t enough. List resorts in specific areas, meeting planners in distinct markets, etc.

• Contacts – Keeping your specific brand message in mind, identify the people within your target industries where you can provide the most tangible value. Some examples may be obvious (marketing managers, human resources, sales directors), while others may not be as apparent (diversity managers, safety directors, procurement managers).

All this information is essential for developing the client profile, as it not only identifies the targets who will find the most value in what you offer but also targets the people within the organization who will best respond to how you differentiate yourself through brand messaging.

Monitor and Evolve – After the target audience has been identified, it’s essential to monitor as clients, industry trends, market tendencies, and your competition evolve. Don’t fall into the trap of assuming that your target audience will remain static – it won’t. Track every touchpoint: sales activities, client interactions, quotes, meetings, presentations, marketing efforts, client feedback, etc., as it allows you to identify needs, trends, patterns, and potential areas for improvement. This will ensure that your brand message can evolve with your target audience and remain in alignment.

Marketing to every organization that purchases promotional products isn’t any more feasible than McDonald’s marketing to every person who likes to eat at a restaurant. Within the overly broad category, there are “potential clients” who eat out but prefer steak at Morton’s. In other words, there is a specific segment of the audience that will never spend a dime at McDonald’s, so placing any effort into marketing to them wouldn’t make sense – the juice just isn’t worth the squeeze.

By narrowing down to a specific target audience, your unique voice will begin to align with clients who delight in the distinct value you provide.