Target Marketing for Service Professionals

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Target Marketing for Service Professionals
By Jennifer Woodard

Let’s face it. Marketing can be expensive. It can be a wasted expense when we don’t take the time to figure out exactly who our market is and the best way to reach that market. When asking service professionals who their target markets are, many tend to think that everyone is their target. This is just not the case. The fastest way to waste your money is to think that everyone is a member of your target market.

Understanding who your target market is a process that can be broken down into many small but important steps. You first must know exactly what services you have to offer. Make sure that the selection of services you offer is small enough to have a target, but large enough to hit the bulls-eye.

So how do you begin. Let’s break this process down with an example. Christine is a freelance copywriter and marketing consultant. She decided to offer a full range of copywriting services and market planning. She has thought about the industries she has experience in, knowledge of or interest in learning about. Christine decides to target financial planners and financial service providers.

Christine breaks down the process into the following four steps.

Step 1 - Reading trade magazines and association websites to find out what problems the industry face when trying to reach potential customers. She also calls local financial service firms to find out what problems they face and how they currently market to potential customers.

Step 2 - Christine understands what is the best way to reach and sell to her target markets is to know how their industry and profession operate. Through research she finds out how her potential clients market to their potential clients. Once she has a full understanding of what problems her potential customers are facing, she can create marketing material to address their needs and gain credibility by showing she knows and understands the problems they are facing. Don't try selling your services to them, sell solutions to their needs and how your services can help them solve their current and future problems.

When you are creating your materials keep in mind that businesses want to either:

Increase customers
Keep customers
Create customer loyalty
Obtain customer referrals

or all of the above. When you target your market, tell how you can help them gain customers, increase loyalty, retain customers or obtain referrals. Know up front what services you offer that will provide them the solutions to these problems and prove to them how you know how the services will help them.

Step 3 - Once you have figured out what your markets’ needs are and how to reach this market. Create a marketing plan of attack for your business.

Show your targets how investing in your services in an investment in their business, and how a long term investment in your service will be even more beneficial for them. Make sure that you are prepared for objections that they may have. If you are doing a direct mail piece, try to address those objects in your mailing. If you are cold calling, be prepared to address those objections on the phone. The more you know your business the better they will trust that you will understand theirs.

Christine has decided that she will begin with activities that will put her in touch with potential customers right away. She decided to come up with an immediate plan of attack.

A. Create a database of prospects

B. Create a cold calling script

C. Create direct mail follow-up materials (Postcards, newsletters, etc.)

Christine has also created a long-term plan of attack.

A. Writing articles for target markets trade publications

B. Giving marketing seminars

C. Creating a website for prospects to obtain information on her services

D. Providing free useful information that can be downloaded on her website

Step 4 - Create a twelve-month plan and show how you will market to your targets and how you will track the success of your marketing activities.

Christine has decided to create a twelve-month schedule outlining activities to undertake for each month. She decides what the goals are for each activity and what will determine if the activity was successful. One of her goals is to create a marketing seminar with the goal of 60 people attending the seminar. She then decides the goal will be successful if at least 48 people attend the seminar. Her long term goal is to turn at a quarter of the attendees into clients.

Once you have created your marketing plan, make sure that you work that plan to success. Many people try not to sell to hard, by not contacting a potential client afraid to scare them off or upset them. But think about it, Tide isn’t worried about contacting you too often, when they run their commercial 60 times a day for you to see. When you want detergent, they want you to think of Tide. You should feel the same way. When your potential market is looking for your services, you want your service to come to mind first.

For instance, Christine could try a postcard mailing. She has determined that there are four services her prospects could use to help their improve business. She doesn’t send a post card once a month, she sends one every 10 days to two weeks, pointing out how one of her services could help their business. She uses one postcard to tell how newsletters can help increase customer loyalty and referrals, and provided proof by using an example of how a client used newsletters to increase customer loyalty, referrals and brand awareness.

Keep you name in front of your prospects, your services as the solution and they will come looking for you in their time of need.

Jennifer Woodard is a freelance Marketing Communications Consultant offering a full range of communication services including but not limited to marketing, public relations, and book marketing. She specializes in working with Professional Service Firms, Professionals, Authors and Publishers. Visit her website at http://www.jenniferwoodard.biz and her blog at http://jenniferwoodard.blogspot.com

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