What does 'target marketing' mean in lead generation?

The term 'target marketing' is a common buzz-word in marketing circles, but what does it actually mean? And how does it help your lead generation efforts?

Traditional target marketing refers to sub-groups within the overall market, usually defined by age, gender, socio-economic grouping and so on. This old-fashioned approach has it's place, but it's no match for the kind of target marketing available online. The interactive nature of the web makes it possible for you and I to get far more sophisticated than the blunt instrument of demographics.

Who do you want to speak to?

Online target marketing is more concerned with who you want to speak to. Rather than forcing people into boxes defined by age, gender, ethnicity or geographical area, your website can allow people identify their own market segment, allowing your site to act accordingly.

Once this approach is fully understood, it becomes obvious why old-fashioned targeting is a blunt instrument at best.

How does the new target marketing work?

Imagine a person arriving at your website. At this point, you know almost nothing about him/her, so what do you say? The old fashioned approach is to select a target market, and write the copy accordingly.

The flaw in this approach is that sharing a geographical location, gender, age or ethnicity doesn't make any two people the same. What interests one person, could well leave his/her neighbour cold. Here's a much better approach...

Rather than assume knowledge about a visitor to a site, why not let the visitor tell you what market s/he is in? All you have to do is ask.

That's right, a simple web form is all you need to have a site visitor do your target marketing for you.

Simply offer him/her a number of product or service options, and take the visitor directly to the content s/he is interested in. This doesn't tell you the visitor's age, gender, ethnicity or geographical location. Instead of faffing about with marketing fluff, you're able to focus on the thing your visitor is actually interested in at this point in time.

Where does it fit into the lead generation process?

Finding out what a potential client is interested in is the very first step in the lead generation process. Without this crucial first step, your lead generation will grind to a halt.

By finding out what your prospect is looking for, you greatly improve your chance to get him/her interested in finding out more about your product or service. And when it comes to online lead generation, that's half the battle.