Steps For Implementing The Target Marketing Strategy
What you have to sell determines who buys it, and that buyer is who you should be marketing toward. Adopting a tailored marketing program – one that targets a specific group of viewers – is a far more effective way to get and keep customers. So how the heck do you do that?
1. Identify And Define Your Market By Identifying The Buyer
No webmaster can operate successfully in one market because no one type of content is for everybody. A good example is an ordinary hardcore site. Since everyone likes sex, one may assume that anyone will want to come here. Not true. Gay men, women and straight men all like hardcore – but not necessarily the same kind of hardcore.
The broad market for hardcore smut is divided into a variety of target niches such as gay men, women and straight men. Other niches that would be interested in buying hardcore smut include lesbians, bisexuals, bi-curious and the fetish crowd – and every single one of these can be sub-categorized into even more individual tastes.
Even basic straight male viewers have pronounced taste divisions. The guys under the age of 35 seem to prefer light fare such as amateur, teen, lesbian, and voyeur smut. The older surfers aged 36 and up, are more jaded and therefore, more exploratory in their tastes. They’ll watch more of the shock-value smut such as spanking, golden showers, pregnancy, S&M, facials, fisting, group sex, and even she-males.
2. Determine Your Customer's Needs
Fast-buck marketing the same content all the way across the board will do little to increase your sales, because the customer base in each individual market has varying needs. Let’s look at the gay market, which covers a surprisingly broad range of buyers with diverse needs.
- Gay men
- Bi-curious men
- Fetish aficionados
Curiously, transexual, transgender and she-male content generally appeals to straight men. Gay men prefer their smut featuring the beautiful and the masculine. They have no interest in anything female.
Consider the following: What are the different types, appeals, colors and prices? Conduct a simple search on Alexa.com for other sites in your category, ranked according to traffic results, and look at what they offer for the price.
How is your site different and better and how can you demonstrate that difference to your various target niches? Tour the more successful sites to check their layout and what they offer. Can you see what is making them successful? Can you improve on what they have to offer? Can you see who they are advertising with, and how?
Target marketing according to the individual needs that defines your particular market, will have far better – and longer lasting – results. By knowing who is looking for what you have to offer, you will sell far more effectively.
3. Integrated Marketing
Now that you know who is looking for your stuff, how do you let them know that you have what they want? This is where you use all those dirty marketing tricks that I just told you not to use. But this time, you know WHO to use them on! The real trick is not to rely on any one form of marketing, but to use each where it will do the most good for that market, including:
- Search Engine’s and Directories
- Targeted Opt-in Email marketing
- TGP & MGP posts
- Banner advertising
- Internet Radio spots
- Magazine advertising
There are four things to consider in any marketing campaign:
Content: What are you selling and who normally buys it? Just because you have a hardcore Website doesn’t mean that everyone will want to look at it. Consider what specific type of content you are selling: Straight? Gay? Fetish? Straight men rarely buy gay content, and gay men are not all that interested in hardcore content that features females. Are you offering your content to the right buyers?
Distribution: Where do your target customers go to find the kind of stuff you sell? Search engines and directories are your friend. Use them. Check your stats: Where is your traffic coming from? Plan marketing campaigns that take these sources into account.
Also consider your .com address. The more complicated the address, the less likely customers will want to type it into their search bars. A heavy sales campaign — including an appearance on The Random Radio Talk Show.com – will sell very little smut if you are not easy to find.
Pricing: Can the target audience afford your smut or are there too many free alternatives? Pricing usually entails matching competitors’ prices but this does not take into account that you may have better – or more common – content. This may be more – or less – than competing site's. Consider using non-price incentives such as time packages, free minutes, or two-for-one deals, to increase sales on content that is more expensive. Build an appetite for what you have to provide.
Promotion: What advertising options can be used to reach the right buyers? This is the only variable considered under the Profit-Marketing Strategy. However, the thrust and content of your promotion – posting TGP and MGP pages, search engine advertising, posting to bulletin boards, buying advertising space on commercial sites or banner swapping and the little stuff: directory listing, Web rings and top lists – change according to each target market for your content.
Think before you pay for that expensive advertising, or build tons of TGP pages: What works best for what product in what way? If you have a story site, TGP and MGP pages may not be the right marketing tool for you.
4. Profitability: “Show Me the Money”
Making a buck is the point of this exercise but it’s not the be-all, end-all. The whole idea is to “keep the money flowing” instead of making fast money now at the expense of your entire operation down the line. A heavy “Fast Buck” advertising campaign will of course still sell smut, but it will not have the same impact as a targeted marketing campaign. “Fast Buck” marketing is also far more expensive. By knowing who is actually looking for what you have to sell and using integrated marketing elements to grab them, you’ll sell more smut consistently for a longer period of time.
I hope this article will help you to better market your sites, and make more money!