Understanding Consumer Marketing

Consumer Marketing

If your business is catering to individuals, then you are catering to the consumer market. In fact, you probably already use consumer marketing and may not even realize it. Anything that gets your product or business in front of people is a form of marketing. Having a marketing strategy that directly targets your customers is one of the best ways to make sales.

Consumer marketing is creating materials that directly target your audience and customer needs. These products are sold to individuals, instead of businesses, and often have a personal touch.

With today’s consumers spending more time online where they’re being bombarded with products on social media, it’s more important than ever for you to come up with a tailored marketing plan to turn those Facebook likes and Instagram follows into cold, hard, cash.

Examples of Consumer Marketing

Direct Mail: This is the most common and traditional type of consumer marketing. It includes coupons that come in the mail, postcards from mattress companies, or a flyer advertising a new pizza restaurant taped to your front door.
Print: These materials include flyers, ads and other information pamphlets that your potential customers can pick up and read on their own.
Website and Social Media: Today your social media and website are the forefront of your business. It is often the first thing that customers see. This makes it one of your biggest marketing opportunities, as people come to you to learn about your business.
Email: Email marketing is one of the fastest-growing ways to get customers. It is slowly replacing direct mail and print as the best way to market. Email campaigns, coupons, and individually targeted emails are all examples of ways you can apply consumer marketing to your business.

Consumer Behavior in Marketing

Now that you know what consumer marketing is, it’s time to target your market. Start by identifying who your buyers are. What are their needs?

For example, if you sell beauty products, your target customer might be a professional woman in her mid-20s to 40s. She probably has a limited amount of time to get ready in the morning and probably needs products that are versatile. Think about how your products can meet her needs — something that is good quality, easy to apply and can be used both for work and social events.

By understanding what your consumer market needs, you are able to translate it into communication that lets them know your product and their needs are a match. Do some research to make sure you understand consumer behavior in marketing (their motivation), through strategies such as interviews, observational research and focus groups that will help you understand your client base.

Next, you should think about the timing of your consumer-generated marketing campaign. Be aware of things like time zones. Do your clients live across multiple time zones? Try to cater email blasts so that they all fall within working hours.

Measuring Target Profitability

Once you have identified your target and your client’s motivations, it’s time to break them into segments. Come up with groups within your clientele to fine-tune your marketing plan and determine who is the most profitable.

Think about size, congestion and purchasing power.

The bigger the market, the more potential buyers you have, while competition could limit your ability to sell. Now that you have an understanding of consumer behavior in marketing, how much money potential buyers have to spend, is what will determine how much money your business makes. For example, if you’re selling candles, look at who you will sell to.

Here are a few other questions to consider:

Do you plan to sell across the U.S.?
To small boutique firms?
Will you ship internationally? Identify your competitors.
Where do they sell?
Who is your target buyer: Are they full-time workers, or students? Married or single?

The more details you have, the more you can tailor your consumer generated marketing plan.

After targeting your audience and learning their needs, it’s time to market. By understanding potential client’s wants and motivations, you can determine the best type of messaging that will bring you customers and make sales.

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