Leveraging Your
Media Partners to
Identify and Target
Customer Segments

By now, many companies in the marine industry have recognized the power of outbound electronic marketing for its ability to reach target markets and potential customers. You might have even tried it yourself using emails collected at tradeshows or from customers who have placed orders for your goods and services. What you might not know is how valuable a resource your print and online media partners can be in increasing the success of your outbound efforts, and with helping you to target those potential customers previously beyond your reach.
Electronic marketing communications programs with media outlets go by a variety of names: eNewsletters, opt-in communications, dedicated eNews, email updates and reader communications to name just a few. Many outlets and online news sources have developed lists of readers who have elected to receive communications from their trusted news sources. Smart marketers know that by understanding the reader audiences and working with these media outlets, they can effectively communicate with key target markets for their products or services.
eNewsletters have tremendous reach. Readers typically have a strong connection with the publisher, resulting in a high delivery rate, open rate and response rate for the marketer. By comparing the statistics provided by the media outlet to click-throughs received and other key stats such as average page views and time on the site, marketers can easily measure the effectiveness of their campaign. This also becomes a learning tool that gives marketers insight into which campaigns, messages and creative choices resonate with an audience. More insight produces better follow-up campaigns and increases the effectiveness of their reach. It is an incredibly powerful tool!
There are a few keys to kicking off an effective electronic campaign. First, determine what you want to promote and who you want to reach. Spend the time to identify the target: think of the customer type and determine what considerations, such as geographical, demographical and/or socio-graphical, are important. Second, understand the audience of the outbound vehicles. Spend time with media outlets to determine what options are available and who they reach. Then choose the outlets that best reach your target audience.
On the campaign front, determine what you want to communicate. This is typically the easy part for most marketers, however, many forget to include a call to action such as "click here for more information", "play this video to learn more" and if necessary, a time frame for a customer to perform the call to action (e.g., "this offer expires on XXX").
Provide a compelling message. The outbound tool should entice the reader to further action, such as "click to learn more." Just about anything in electronic communications can be "hot" and linked to a company's website—video, banners, pictures, text links and logos are all game. Make it easy for the reader to act on the call to action.
All hot links should be directed to your website. In addition, all hot links should be tracked individually so that the advertiser can see which component is performing the best. The ideal destination is a landing page that is compelling and speaks directly to the message or promotion delivered in the outbound communications. Once you have the reader on your site, you want them to stay there and, like the call to action entices, "learn more." If you successfully manage to "grab" them, they can explore other sections of your site to learn more about your company and its products or services.
While you have potential customers on your landing page, make sure you ask them if they would like to receive information directly from you and collect their email address. You may not market directly to your customer base and prospects today, but you most likely will in the future. There is no reason not to leverage the dollars you're spending with your media partner to begin building your database so that you can send compelling promotions and product information to them down the road. These communications can include your own email messaging, or even request that customers "like" your company Facebook page so you can activate your social media to expand your audience reach and grow your overall company awareness.
Use outbound electronic marketing. It is cost effective and gets results!