Before starting marketing actions and even in all strategies in general, it is important to know why you are going to implement a marketing strategy, but also for WHOM (this is marketing targeting)!
Indeed, if you don't want to waste your time and especially your money, you must clearly define your target (by defining a buyer persona) and your objectives. Here we will see the three main points on which poor targeting will have a direct consequence.
Bad targeting, what impact does it have on your business?
The points covered are often related to blogging , social media and emailing but can also extend to advertising or products.
1/ Poor quality traffic
The main cause of poor-quality traffic is the relevance of blog posts and their SEO on search engines. Articles should answer the questions your target audience is asking, so it's important not only to optimize the text for SEO, but also to be relevant in your content.
An article that is too general will inevitably bring in people you don't want, who don't match your recruitment criteria, which is what is defined in the "negative persona". Poor quality traffic will therefore bring you poor quality leads, you will have reached a target that does not need your product/service.
2/ An unqualified contact base
Another consequence of this unsuitable content is lead generation. Although you'll reach more people, your contact base won't be high-quality, and that's not what you want, because you're investing time and money in various email automation solutions. So if it ends up in spam or has unsubscribes, what's the point?
Furthermore, segmenting your contacts is not to be neglected! If you don't send the right email to the right person at the right time, chances are your open rate won't be significant.
Example: in Shopify you can create a "VIP" segment for all customers who have spent more than €200 (or other amount) in your online store for example.
3/ An irrelevant community on social networks
The impact of poor targeting on social media has two aspects: the publication of content itself and advertising.
If you publish content on the wrong platform and it's not at all adapted to the medium, you're heading straight for failure. If you haven't chosen the platforms used by your target audience (perhaps due to a lack of knowledge of the sector), you're deploying resources in vain.
Or worse, damage your brand image. So don't rush headlong into the latest trendy social network, but choose wisely the platforms where your customers are! And then, keep in mind that there are tips for improving your brand image (corporate branding).
On social media, you may run advertising campaigns. The consequences of poor targeting will be the same as for blog posts.
If you choose the wrong audience for your ads, you'll naturally reach users who aren't relevant to your brand. Another negative consequence is that people may spam your brand page, forcing you to moderate more diligently.
But fortunately, with these campaigns, it is possible to stop or modify them at any time (especially on Facebook ), in order to limit the damage.
Targeting your marketing actions is fundamental!
Here we have listed just a few consequences of poor targeting. It is important to understand that targeting is something that is also a long-term process, whether in terms of content or platform. It is therefore necessary to properly understand your targets and analyze their online behavior.
