Do-It-Yourself Research Marketing
In the marketplace of the digital age there are almost too many ways to reach your target audience, and with so many advertising channels available, budgets can very quickly get spread too thin. The answer? Turn yourself into a do-it-yourself research marketer with a clear plan for action that gets results. Follow these guidelines and soon you will…
- Know your target audience better than they know themselves
- Know where, when and how to reach them
- Find out if you are being heard
You won’t get a degree or certificate of completion for reading on, but you will get better results from your advertising budget.
Research Your Audience
What audience are you after? Are you certain you really know the answer to that question? Profiling your target audience will help you determine which channels, media, websites or blogs you would consider for advertising.
So, who are your target customers? Describe them–where do they live? What do they do? How much are they willing to spend on a vacation? Where, when and why do they travel? What do they like and dislike about vacations?
You could hire a professional research firm to gather the answer to those questions for you, but you have direct access to that information by simply asking your customers. Here are a few techniques for finding out what your customers want.
- Conduct focus groups to find out how people characterize your brand
- Monitor social networks such as Facebook and Twitter to see what people are saying about your destination
- Get engaged in the conversation and ask questions on social networks
- Create an online survey with an incentive for participating
- Review booking/purchasing data and look for patterns
- Ask your customers for feedback on their experiences
- Keep listening and learning
Once you’ve identified who you’re trying to reach, you can move forward with a clear idea of how, where and when to target your marketing efforts.
Customize the Message
So, you’ve acquainted yourself with your target audience. What now? Draw them in with a custom-tailored message, of course. We’d like to take a moment to emphasize: custom-tailored. It’s imperative that you deliver a message that is appropriate for the kind of trip or destination your audience members are looking for (which you discovered in your research and surveys).
Whatever you say to your audience, make sure it meshes with your brand. What is your destination’s unique selling proposition and how do your consumers relate to you? Many brands have made the mistake of trying to take on messages that don’t match their brand. For instance, PepsiCo recently launched a “health blog” that created an uproar among its consumers–it was quickly scrapped. The message here? Don’t stray too far from your brand.
The placement of your message is key, too. Are you sending the consumer to the right page on your site? Are you providing a message that makes them want to click NOW? Often messages that work have some urgency: win something, help others, or a time limited incentive to sharing the campaign. Social portals such as Facebook have had shown an up-tick in performance for online campaigns.
If there’s one thing that can make or break a great campaign, it’s timing. While traditional media buys are placed over weeks and months, the plethora of online advertising channels allows you to move quickly to launch a campaign and to replace underperforming creative quickly. Often more affordable than offline channels, online marketing also allows you to target your audience more directly.
To time your advertising just right:
- Research what draws the most visitors to your destination
- Create a planning calendar
- Promote important festivals
- Plan around special holidays
- Highlight unique experiences such as fall colors or apple picking
Defining Success
You’ve researched, analyzed and planned. Now, before you place any advertising, determine what success looks like to you. Answering three simple questions will help you determine what you want your final report to include.
- What does success look like for you and for your partners -
- How will you know if you reach your goal?
- How often will you assess?
Success can be defined in many different ways such as increases in visits to your website, Facebook friends, vacation guide downloads, enews subscriptions or hotel bookings. Understanding your audience and targeting them with your message where and when you want to hear it will have an impact on the results of your marketing campaigns.
Case in Point
For Atlantic City Convention and Visitors Association, success was defined primarily by an increase in visits to the website from key geographic markets. The CVA made a positive difference in its marketing investment by making changes to the way the CVA spent by audience group, by creating targeted messages on audience specific landing pages and by timing campaigns according to target audience research. The chart below indicates results of the campaign by target market.
If becoming your own research marketer seems a little daunting–don’t worry. Aristotle can provide you with more in-depth guidance and can help you plan your research process and marketing program. Call us at 1-800-995-2747 or email us at info@AristotleDesign.com Contact us!