Whether you are working on designing a new content strategy or refurbishing an existing social media channel, it's totally normal to not be sure where to start or what to share! In this post we'll outline how to define your audience and observe your competitors to help shape your marketing decisions.
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Define Your Audience.
It may surprise you but as the business owner or marketing lead, you are not always the ideal customer for your brand. Do you know who your ideal customer is? Is there more than one type of customer for your product or service? Where do these customers go to find information about your product or service? The questions are endless and the fun part should be asking and answering them for your marketing strategy.
Perhaps you are a company which makes shower accessories for the elderly or a non-alcoholic wine brand. Chances are you are likely not the target user for both of those products. So how do you define who is?
Research!
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Look into keywords around your industry. What are people searching for? What do those questions sound like? Where online are people congregating and talking about the topics that pertain to your business. For example your shower accessory company may seem ideal for one age group when in reality your purchaser could be the adult child of the end user. Knowing how to communicate to that buyer is important and messaging for the end user that doesn't hit the pain points of the purchaser will result in a dud. Performing a SWOT analysis early in your marketing strategy will help you get a clearer picture of where your product or service falls in the broad market. It will also help you when it comes time to finding competition and understanding their strengths and weaknesses.
If you already have marketing channels with subscribers or followers, ask them! You have a market research tool right at your finger tips. You can find out so much when you talk to your customers. Try it!
Observe Your Competitors.
By observing where your competitors are thriving or failing with content means that you can explore that area on your own brand page.
First, you have to find and define your competitors. Set the parameters. If you are a shoe brand your competitors may not be Adidas and Nike. While they make shoes, yes, they are operating on a huge global scale whereas you are a much smaller fish. It is highly unlikely that you will go viral like they can. That doesn't mean you can't admire their marketing and emulate things in your own strategy but you probably have neither the budget nor the team for executing multinational campaigns so to start, think small. Find 1-3 competitors and follow them on social media, sign up to their website newsletter, and if possible, even visit their Brick and Mortar location. Do your research! Sometimes the brands you feel are competition have a completely different audience than your customer base. This is why creating customer personas is vital to your marketing plan. Look around and don't be afraid to be diverse in defining your competition.
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What are these brands doing in your niche, or space? What can you as a brand do differently? Always be willing to experiment and try out new styles of content. Are your competitors really nailing video content but is it too focused on product and not enough on the customer? Try creating video content for your brand that addresses that lack. Are your competitors sending out newsletters with spelling mistakes and incorrect links? Make sure that your newsletters are polished and perform well.
Always be willing to try! The worst thing you can do for your marketing is become complacent and stuck in routine. Just because something is easy to do doesn't mean it is the best thing to do for marketing.
A word to the wise: Being a copycat is never a good idea. Being inspired is reasonable but duplicating another brand's campaign or strategy is bad behaviour.
Summary:
When you know the audience to target be sure to study what marketing they might already be engaging with in your niche to perfect your own strategy.
Get in Touch.
Have a question about how to find your audience or competitors? Get in touch today! Write to us at liz@litirmarketing.com
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