December 12, 2017

Why Is It So Hard to Get a Good Marketing ROI?

Buyer Personas

Michael stood in front of the screen – palms sweaty and dreading the result – only to stare in shock at the number in the email.  Just two measly sales… after all the cash he’d poured into this one marketing effort.

“How could I be so wrong? Will anyone trust me again?”  If you’ve ever felt the anxiety bleeding through your team after a campaign like this, you’re not alone.

And fortunately, this nationwide homebuilder learned the big reason why they (and so many others) flounder so miserably with their marketing.

Knowing your audience is the key.

It seems this simple idea is pounded into us from every angle.

Companies “think” they understand.

They listen to the experts and read the articles.  Yet when they send out offers to people, it’s obvious they really don’t know their audience.  We hear about lookalike audiences, buyer personas and modeled propensities.  It’s a great idea: reach your best prospects – the ones most like your best existing customers.  And if it’s done right…

Michael decided on a short consultation and to try our data. He was a little cautious though, probably even a bit skeptical.  “Let’s aim for 4 sales.”

When he got 12 sales and made $13.64 on every dollar he spent, Michael became a believer.

Knowing your audience is just this powerful.

And without a doubt, it’s the first step to make your marketing efforts effective in 2018.

How does it work?  You start by sending a spreadsheet or list of your current customers. Maybe all you have is just their names and addresses.  Likely there’s quite a bit of information on your customers. (In the sample below, we found data on 85% of our client’s customers.)

Sure, quite a few data companies could tell you the marital status, number of kids and simple demographics on your customers.  But what about their political preference? Their hobbies? The way they connect to the internet? Their health, income, vehicles, even how they use their credit cards?  (Obviously, due to privacy we can’t learn some of these things directly.)

If you analyze dozens of factors like these – with your best customers – you’ll start to see amazing trends.  You can even see why they buy, and when.  More than this, what if you could search through 250 million people, using these same factors?

You could find a CROWD of people with the SAME motives and timing.

Imagine what this can do for your sales and profits.

In the sample report below, notice these prospects are labeled “Best performers.” And there are 1.3 million of them.

 

Buyer Personas Report

Focus your best marketing efforts on these people.

And of course, this number could be narrowed down even further – even more targeted.  For example, by using pre-defined propensity models, you can learn even more about people and how likely they are to behave like your existing customers.

Want to reach more people? No problem. There are 9.4 million “Undecided prospects.”  People where some of the factors match, but they are less likely to buy than the “Best” ones.  You could target them with a different kind of offer.

This is what an augmented lookalike report can do for you.

How do you feel about this? How do you get to know your audience?  Want to get to know your audience like this?

Pick up the phone and call us.

We’re going to help some select companies exceed their marketing goals in 2018. Are you in?

Click here to learn more

 

 
 

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