B2C Marketing, Consumer Engagement
Marketing has been around for ages. As a result, it’s evolved from the simple exchange of buying and selling it once was. Consumer expectations are higher, and the weight felt by marketers is heavier.
There's also a collective sense of inundation. We've talked on this blog before about the inundation felt by consumers. But marketers are feeling it, too. It's easy to feel overwhelmed by the constant need to send out marketing content, stay ahead of digital trends and find creative ways to reach consumer-facing goals.
Let's talk more about this inundation — and how niche marketing can help.
It's harder than ever to reach consumers
To best understand how marketers can gain some control and cut through the noise, we enlisted the help of award-winning public relations expert Phoenix Jackson, founder of Phoenix Affect.
“The diet of social media content has caused mental obesity for consumers. It is harder than ever to reach them where they are. The average touch point per consumer has increased, and consumers are looking for content that is engaging, educational and that inspires an emotion..." she said.
Jackson isn’t wrong. Google receives at least 5 billion searches per day. Social media shows the average consumer around 10,000 ads per day. And the average American sees an estimated 4,000-10,000 ads per day in all places combined. Cutting through that noise can be as simple as making consumers feel special with the content you put out. If you can offer them a level of personability, that will help to keep you out of the rat race of competing for their time and attention.
Niche marketing can help cut through the noise
Jackson urges her clients to find a lane in which they can thrive and focus on it. She calls it “intention-based marketing,” otherwise known as niche marketing, the idea that a brand hones in on a concept and perfects its skills in order to best serve a specific audience. In so many ways, it’s about finding out what makes your brand stand out from the others in your industry.
Consumers have no trouble finding a restaurant to eat at or a clothing store to purchase apparel from, but what about one that caters to their allergies or unique height? That specificity will not only differentiate your brand from others who aren’t catering to those needs, but it can also cultivate customer loyalty and appreciation.
Catering to a specific demographic requires brands to deeply understand their customers, an action that can make your customers feel less ignored in the marketplace. When you’re focused on one core audience, you can dedicate more of your time to making sure loyal customers are being served.
This can be done by creating smaller teams within your brand that are mainly responsible for one section of a larger marketing strategy or goal, as well. On top of better serving your customers, Jackson says this can eliminate some of the inundation marketers feel while working.
“The future looks like small teams thinking creatively about how to just target their desired audience. They need to pick apart their audience so as to not waste resources casting a wide net,” said Jackson.
While your overall brand could have employees well into the thousands, Jackson believes it’s small sub teams that will lead your brand to success.
Having a niche marketing strategy where you place the majority of your effort on fully understanding a select number of segments can help you narrow in on how your brand will be of value to your customers. The knowledge you gain from those concentrated marketing efforts can then be clearly articulated back to your audience and prevent you from sending out marketing campaign after marketing campaign trying to convince consumers you’re not just one more business they have to spend energy trying to assess.
