Have you ever been to a theme park? There are the exciting roller coasters, the delicious fried foods and all of those water rides to cool off in the heat of summer.

What’s right for Bob isn’t right for Steve.

Let’s talk about the Greatest Place on Earth, one of the most famous theme parks. Supposedly, it’s great for anyone wanting to take a trip. Everyone can experience the magic, meet characters, go on rides and explore fantastic cultures and food.

While everyone is welcome to enjoy the many things on offer at the park, the reality is, there’s a certain type of visitor they target. And they should!

If you try to please everyone, you’ll please no one. And this is especially true in marketing.

Processes for a Specific Audience

Let’s go back to the last time I went to this theme park. You can take photos with your favorite characters. Some are more popular than others and have entire buildings built to house the waiting crowds.

As you approach the character, the handler at the head of the line asks, “How many in your party?”

As a person traveling alone, I answered, “One.”

The person heard my answer. However, they’re so used to having a group; they don’t always realize when someone isn’t in a group.

As the group in front of me joined the character for a photo, I was urged by the photographer and the staff to go “join my family.” I looked at them with what I’m sure is a crazed look and stayed put.

The photographer stopped shooting and said, “Don’t be shy and go join your family!”

It took two or three tries for them to finally realize they were trying to stuff me into a stranger’s photos. And the family was a little perplexed why they were so insistent (especially since my “siblings” were a good 10 years younger than me).

While the majority of people who visit this park travel with a family, a good portion don’t as well.

You don’t want to create the awkward situation of forcing strangers into family photos.

You Have More Than One Audience

Most companies have more than one type of ideal buyer. If all of your material is made to appeal to all of your buyers, your message and value get watered down.

You may think you only have one ideal buyer. For example, you create hotel booking software. Your ideal buyer is a hotel owner.

You can break the “hotel owner” into three specific buyers.

Buyer #1: He has a small business, less than 25 rooms, and does most of the reservations himself. He’s listed in directories and can’t afford to promote on third-party sites.

Buyer #2: She has a medium-sized property, 85 rooms, and has a small staff that handles the reservations. They take online and phone bookings and occasionally have a walk-in. They have a small advertising budget and regularly get bookings from third-party sites.

Buyer #3: She runs a large property, 450 rooms, and has a high turnover rate of a large staff that’s involved in reservations. They take a mix of bookings and do a lot of promotion through ads and third-party sites to drive bookings.

Can all three of these people benefit from your booking software? Yes. Do they all have the same needs or concerns? Absolutely not.

Create Campaigns for Each Buyer

Think of the last time you went to a hotel. Did they have a concierge or front desk staff? Could you walk up to them and know they’d ask, “How can I help you?”

Your marketing follows the same guiding principle. You want to answer the, “How can I help you?" question.

First, the most important thing you have to figure out is a real definition of your avatar. I use the word avatar because it’s not a group of people you’re talking to, but a single person.

Many companies, when talking about their audience, will say something like, “We help companies that generate $XX million in revenue each year improve XYZ.”

When you create a piece of marketing, you’re not talking to a company. If you publish a blog post or a case study, a company isn’t going to read it. A person is. 

Go Beyond “Avatars”

Who are you targeting as your person?

• What is their title?
• Who are they?
•  What age range are they in?
• What do they already know about your type of industry?
• Do they have advanced or beginner knowledge about your solution?
• Do they know your solution exists?

From here, you want to create the three most likely people that are going to be making this buying decision. This is your starting point for creating a marketing project, and the greater campaign, that converts.

Let’s go back to our software company.

The small hotel owner is married, in his mid-50s, with no kids at home. This is a new business for him. He’s been in operation less than two years and is starting to look into options to automate his bookings a bit more. He doesn’t know much about booking software except it exists and he doesn’t like his current system.

The medium hotel owner is single, in her late 40s and has been running the hotel for 5 years. She bought a booking system when she first started and they’ve grown since then.

She wants a better solution and one that can grow with her as she has plans to expand. It needs to have a few advanced options, like spa bookings.

The large hotel owner outsources the search for better software to someone else. She is in her mid-30s, and worked the front desk for at least 4 years. 

​She knows the issues with their current system and needs an all-in-one solution for restaurant bookings, spa bookings and hotel reservations. It also needs to be very easy to learn, preferably with on-demand training, as she has high-turnover.

With these people in mind, it’s much easier to move on to the next step of creating a marketing project. You know their concerns and realize a different approach is needed for each. You want to answer the “How can I help you?” question.

This is the first of four articles about how to create a marketing campaign that talks to the right person at the right time with the right message using the Concierge Conversion System.

Want to start implementing now? Sign up for a 60-minute Concierge Conversion Strategy Session where we’ll dive deep into your company and create the fundamentals of your next marketing campaign. Use the code BLOG15 for a 15% discount here.