Without customers, there can be no business. Even the most clever business plan is meaningless without a set of customers to purchase the products and services being offered. That is why it’s important, in any business, to determine who your potential customer is and how you can best reach out to them.
Know Your Target Audience
As you prepare a marketing strategy, start by determining who you’ll be selling your service to. In the party rental industry, there are many potential customers, including the following:
- Parents of children celebrating birthdays
- Business owners planning corporate events
- Event planners
- Those preparing for a wedding or similar special event
Will you be reaching out to a wide audience, or targeting just one of these categories in order to make your business well known to a specific group of potential customers?
Change Your Marketing Strategies
When you know who you’re targeting, it will become easier to tailor your marketing and advertising strategies to that audience. For example, an advertisement geared toward parents throwing a child’s bright, circus themed birthday party will look very different from an advertisement for elegant wedding rentals. Know your audience and give them the information they need to make the decision to choose your business.
Know Where to Find Your Customers
You know who your business is targeting and you’ve fine tuned your advertising. Now, where should you go to promote your business? Know where to find your customers. Social media is a great place to start. Most audiences can be reached through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. Posting content and linking to your website on these sites can bring traffic to your website and attention to your business.
To promote your business elsewhere, consider your specific audience. Wedding planners and engaged couples will be looking at wedding related blogs and local wedding business websites. Get in touch with the owners of these sites to inquire about posting an ad or doing a guest post. Event planners will need the products and services of other local businesses for their events. Partner and collaborate with other businesses to get your name out.
Build Relationships
Get to know your customers on an individual basis. Providing excellent service and building relationships with customers will help to attract repeat customers and will cause your customers to be more likely to recommend you to friends and family. For a small business owner, relationships are the key to growing and increasing sales. Take some time to evaluate your marketing plan and discover how you can effectively reach out to your potential customers.