Capturing the Cusp Market

There was, is, and always will be a fresh market for your business to target. Consumers come in waves — it’s your job to acquire them and keep them — but brand loyalty doesn’t start the moment your consumer is eligible for your product. It starts by recruiting your audience before it knows what it wants.

Hot Spots for Marketing Your Prospects

Advertising to a specific audience is the most effective way to keep your closing percentages higher than the competition’s. Facebook marketing is a great tool in this regard because you can focus in on key consumers. For example, car dealers can plant ads on a 15-year-old’s page, assuming that he’ll need a car within the year.

Retargeting with technology such as Criteo or Struq can help you convert those users who’ve previously visited your page but were “just browsing” – or not yet ready to buy. Retargeting them with banners can lead them back once they become eligible consumers, ready to purchase. If they have your brand in the back of their minds, chances are higher that you’ll be their go-to guy when they’re ready to commit, rather than a random brand. Let them know you’re there for them throughout the process, and your audience will reward you with loyalty.

Appealing to Different Stages in Life

When these customers enter the next stages of their lives, you want to greet them accordingly. It all comes down to the tone you use. If you’re marketing to an excited new homebuyer, then you’ll want to use happy color schemes and interactive wording. They’re already excited and ready to buy, so it’s your sale to lose at this point.

When targeting a nervous or apprehensive customer, you’ll want to use comforting and supportive wording in combination with authoritative color schemes. Even people who are going through hard times need specific products to help them along the way. Become their confidant.

Accessorize, Accessorize, Accessorize

Most of the time, the sale does not end with the product your customer set out to purchase. Sites like Amazon do a great job of helping the customer get what he needs to make the most of his purchase with their “people who purchased this also purchased this” advertising. Bought an iPod? You’ll want headphones, a case and perhaps a docking station to enhance your listening experience. The product is the starting point, and accessories raise the consumer’s experience to a new, exciting level.

Producing great marketing and planting leading content before your customer is eligible for your product is the first and most important step of the sales process. You can update him on new information, educate him about the product/service, and by retargeting, you can keep your product at the front of his mind when he’s ready to purchase.

You don’t want to harass your audience to the point that they put a virtual restraining order on you, but you don’t want to ignore them, either. Simply touch base with your consumer at regular intervals, and see the wonders it can produce for your brand and business. The sales game begins with recruitment, so get your brand out there early and watch your audience reward you with loyalty.