For the first time the world of target marketing is incredibly precise for the little guy. And budget friendly, too.
You will like this news. Keep reading.
A little history will shed light on the magnitude of this great discovery.
The first instance of target marketing has been traced to the General Motors Corporation in 1920, when they realized that Ford owners didn’t buy a second Ford. GMC started sending surveys to current Ford owners, asking them for feedback on GMC products. They never used the feedback, but found people were more likely to buy a GMC as their next car!
In the 1970’s, sales shifted from door-to-door to telemarketing . Direct mail marketing remained a constant annoyance, with only 2% of recipients expected to respond.
The use of census data, sold by the US government in the 1970s allowed marketers to add demographic data. A number of companies started to sell updated lists by taking the census data and using phone books and voter registration to add names back in. It would take 5 years to turn out a complete database.
In the 1980’s companies began collecting, and selling, psychographic data – what do people think, believe and how do they live. Direct mail in the 1990’s moved to a 10:1 ratio – $10 yield for every $1 spent.
Another Feather In Its Cap
This century’s ultra precise tool that does not require any of the above, i.e. hiring a mailing list company or a direct mail company or anybody for that matter is:
Twitter – the free, targeted treasure trove of all of your potential leads, customers and improved bottom line.
So here’s how to use Twitter as your own lead generation tool.
Step 1. Define Your Target Audience
You need to determine who your customers are by creating what’s called a buyer persona. To summarize, a buyer persona includes the following details as a starting point:
Are they male or female?
How old are they?
What is their level of education?
What is their occupation?
Are they married and do they have children?
What social media platforms do they prefer?
What are their life aspirations?
What are they afraid of?
How do they spend their leisure time?
What is their preferred method of communication?
Step 2. Search Your Niche
Then use Twitter’s Advanced Search tool where you can narrow your search and hone in on the people who are looking for your product, talking about a competitor or trying to get your attention?
Step 3. Follow people who are following others in your niche
This is the fastest way to grow your following with people who care about what you’re doing. In other words, you are selectively “lifting” your followers’ followers! It works.
Step 4. Post consistently
It’s called content marketing and you need to do this daily. Original blog posts, third party links and articles, with images that make you stand out .
“Tweets with images receive 18% more clicks, 89% more favorites and 150% more retweets.” – Hubspot
RESOURCES
- Great article: “How To Draw Attention With Images”
- A checklist of essential elements to make your life simple: “11 Essential Ingredients Every Post Needs” from Copyblogger
- Post content with Buffer to share on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn and more.
Step 5. Use 1-2 hashtags for each tweet
They are more effective than you thought. Using hashtags exposes you to an entirely new group of people that don’t follow you, but are interested in what you’re saying. Find, analyze and amplify the best hashtags with Hashtagify. Great and surprising tool!
Step 6. Spiff up your Twitter Bio
Your Twitter bio is a powerful representation of you and your company, and it should be handled with care.
Be razor sharp when you’re communicating your value proposition on your company’s Twitter bio. Your bio will get lots of attention and you want it to convert with your followers, i.e. get them to your website.
Don’t have the time to run your own Twitter lead generation campaign? Hire me!
– By Marcia Coffey
Find Marcia on Google+
Call Marcia at 561.906.3436