When identifying the buyer personas and audience segments for your company or new product or service, it’s important to understand that these individuals will make up the majority of your buyers. But, while most prospects will be represented by these groups, not all prospects will fall into the defined personas and segments. Sometimes there are invisible customers that don’t necessarily fit into the audiences that you have created or those that you wouldn’t have thought to include. They might use your product or service in a way that is different from how it is commonly used. So why are these invisible customers important to your marketing efforts? We cover a few important digital marketing strategies to consider that can help you reach your ideal target audience as well as your invisible customers.
Appeal to the Self-Educating Buyer
Most prospects look at an average of 13 sources or pieces of content before making a purchase. 77% of buyers conduct research when exploring their options to purchase and 57% of buyers are halfway through the funnel before contacting a business. Oftentimes 51% of buyers make a shortlist before contacting any vendors. Because many prospects are self-educating buyers it is key to create exceptional digital experiences and deliver content that is appropriate to the buying stage that they are in. To ensure your content appeals to all prospects, even your invisible customers, it should be diverse in style and focus.
Google is the go-to search engine for people and is often the place where the self-educating buyer begins their research journey. Having content that is search engine optimized can help it rank in Google. Years ago it was much easier to rank organically, but with increased competition and Google algorithm changes, it’s getting harder to rank near the top of pages. Being consistent with your keywords and focusing on the common search terms for your offering and content can help increase your rankings. Focus on providing quality content that will help your prospects and keep your company top of mind during the purchasing process.
Ensure a Strong Presence Across Platforms and Channels
What are the common places that people turn to for information or assistance? A website, social media platforms and even Google can be where people go to obtain the information that they are looking for. Your ideal buying audience will turn to these channels. So will your invisible customers. They will use the same platforms and channels that your ideal buyers use to find what they are looking for. Ensuring that your website has an exceptional user experience and is up to date with relevant content can help prospects find what they’re looking for. Consistently update social media channels and continue to focus on optimizing your content with keywords to rank in Google. These can help your buyers find you when doing their research.
Diversify Content Marketing Efforts
To reach your known and unknown prospects, you are going to have to produce many content pieces. It might be overwhelming to produce content at a high volume, but there are several ways to boost your efficiency and simplify the diversification of content. To start, it is important to think of building an ecosystem. Always craft pieces while keeping in mind how they can be repurposed into other types of content. For example, take a section of one blog post and turn it into a post focused on only that section or repurpose into an infographic or even an eBook. Focusing on buyer pain points can also help. Creating content that discusses common pain points helps give your buyers useful content to consume and specifically addresses challenges they may be faced with. The more content you deliver and the more types you have available the more likely you will be able to successfully reach your ideal prospects as well as those invisible customers.
Find Your Customers
Finding your ideal customers starts with knowing your buyers and creating buyer personas. While not everyone will fit into these defined segments, the majority of your buyers will and the more you know about them, they more likely you will be able to convert them to a customer. For step-by-step guidance to building buyer personas combined with personalized, expert-level marketing coaching, check out the Develop Target Audiences and Persona Profiles course.
