Today, we’re here to talk to you about the BIGGEST mistake professional service firms make. When someone reaches out to us to help with their marketing, one of the first questions we will ask is, “Who are you trying to target with your product/service?” The responses over the years have been shocking, if not severely ill-advised.
The resounding, “Anyone who is interested”, never ceases to surprise to us. We admire the confidence, but unfortunately shake our heads at the naivety. The shotgun approach is wasting your time, money and effort.
Shotgun Approach – is when marketing efforts are not targeted and are merely broadcasted to an unspecified demographic or audience. i.e. A shotgun fires a large quantity of smaller pellets in a wide, undefined area instead of just one, targeted bullet.
We do not condone this approach (or the use firearms in any way). Unless you are a giant, multinational like Coca-Cola, whose product is consumed by billions worldwide each day – the shotgun approach will leave you high and dry with no real strategy for moving forward.
Why is the Shotgun Approach the biggest professional service firms could make?
More $$$ with less ROI
Think about the difference in price between a print newspaper ad and a social media ad. The print news paper ad will reach thousands of people from various demographics, whereas a social media ad will go straight to the newsfeed of people who have already looked at your website or have engaged with your competitors. A wider net creates a bigger cost.
Save Money: Effort and time is essentially money for your business. So save all of the above by using fewer resources to create a bigger impact.
Random and Irrational
No matter how good your messaging is, if it is falling on deaf ears then you’re not going to see any results. Like a bus stop advertisement for retirement plans outside a university, you’re most likely going to be ignored.
The Lesson: Marketing is about having the RIGHT PRODUCT, for the RIGHT PEOPLE, at the RIGHT TIME.
Unmeasurable Results, Immeasurable Effort
What’s the point of running a marketing campaign if it’s not going to help you learn more about your target audience and buyer profiles? As well as this, there’s almost no way to tell the ROI or engagement levels for a shotgun campaign.
Better Approach: Thanks to modern tech you can now – to a reasonable extent – accurately see the number of people who saw your ad, engaged with it, or responded to your call-to-action.
So if you don’t want to be one of those who fall for the biggest mistake professional service firms make, you’ll need the precision of a Hawk and the determination of a Hunter… i.e. Hunt and Hawk. We are all about creating a big IMPACT in the most cost-effective and efficient way for your business.
We can discuss creating a targeted marketing campaign at a free flying class for business today.
