The Message Market Medium Match And Why It Should be A Vital Component Of Your Marketing Strategy
The message to market to medium match is the most important principle of marketing. If you understand how these three factors interact you will get a much better response from your advertising and marketing. However, if you ignore or de-value the importance of these three factors you will be settling for less money and lower responses. Before I get into how these factors work together I want to take a brief moment to explain what these terms mean.
Message. This one is the straightest forward of the three, and it generally refers to your sales message. These are the words you communicate to your prospect that are used to convince him / her to take action and buy your product or services. These are words used to sell, and they are often referred to as copy.
Medium. This area is one where entrepreneurs often make a mistake, especially when it comes to the internet. The medium is how your message gets to your prospect. Examples of different medium are: postcards, newsletters, TV, radio, business cards, sales letters, internet, tear sheets, free recorded messages, email, etc. The internet is tricky because everyone thinks that the rules change when they go online. That is dangerous thinking. The principles that make marketing work do not change and they apply regardless of what medium you are in. You may have to tailor your message to fit within a given format, but the rules are still the same.
Market. This term refers to your target market. That is to say, who are you trying to sell your product or services too. Obviously, you cant sell to every single person on the planet, so you have to pick a certain group or niche of people to market to. If you havent already tried this, you should sit down and write down every possible thing you could think of about your target market, and use this as a guide in your marketing. If you are marketing to everybody you are marketing to nobody.
These three factors work together and feed into one another. You must have the right message being delivered to the right market via the right medium. If any of these three factors is not right than it could sink an entire campaign. For instance if you are a swimwear provider you would have better success marketing to people in Florida than you would in Wisconsin. If you sell expensive jewelry you want to market to people in wealthier parts of town than those in the poorer parts.
You see, people learn and react in different ways. Some people like to read things, others like to listen to them, and still others like to learn things hands on. This means that you have to put your sales message in the best format for you target market to consume it. You dont want to send an email campaign to someone who hates to check email, or pay for TV commercials broadcast to people who dont watch television (believe it or not they still exist).
There are several good ways to avoid making these types of mistakes, and most of them involve doing a little research. Go and spend time wherever your target market spends time. Eat what they eat, watch what they watch, and do what they do. This will give you a much better understanding of your market. To figure out what media works best, you should look into what types of publications that your target market responds too. Find successful (the key word being successful) people that are marketing to your group and find out what they are using and copy it. Finally, a good catch-all way to improve your chances is by using campaigns that include multiple media. For instance, you could use a 3-step mailing campaign that includes a sales letter, CD, and voice broadcast.
I know that adapting your marketing to include this type of strategy may be difficult, but I assure you it is well worth the effort. If you dont concern yourself with all three aspects you are leaving money behind. If you apply these principles properly there is no question that you will see a boost in both your response and your bank account.
Michael Black is a Direct Response Marketing Guru located in Colorado Springs, CO and Co-founder of Direct Results Marketing. Along with co-founder Jarrod Cash they have created comprehensive marketing kits, systems, and promotions for all kinds of businesses and services. If you want to make more money in less time then you need to be talking to us.
We work with entrepreneurs and companies to cut all the fat and waste out of their advertising and make their sales efforts at least 500% productive guaranteed. Find out how you can boost your profits at: http://www.DirectResultsOnline.com
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