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 Marketing to people who influence your market

By David Frey

I often get questions from small business owners about how to market their product or service to consumers.

Marketing to consumers is very tricky for two important reasons:

Reason # 1

It's sometimes hard to find good mailing lists of your target consumers. Without a good mailing list, you can't market via direct mail (which is the preferred marketing method of small businesses).

Reason # 2

If there's no existing lists of your target consumers, then you have to do your own lead generation through print, radio, or television advertising, which can be very expensive.

I was reminded of this dilemma just today when I received two emails from two people who were trying to market two very different products to consumers.

Read the case studies below and notice how I turned the situation around and found an entirely new target market that would help them to leverage their marketing dollars.

Case Study # 1 - Icebox Athletic Training System

Today I received an email from Jackson Gibbons who is marketing a product called "The Icebox," which is an information product that helps athletes perform better under pressure. You can see the product at http://www.IceboxAthlete.com

Instead of marketing the Icebox product directly to athletes, which is the obvious primary target market, I advised Jackson that he might be better off marketing it to athletic coaches.

Athletic coaches have an influence over many potential buyers and once they're convinced it's a great product, they'll probably recommend it to the athletes they're coaching.

Doing this will extend Jackson's precious few marketing dollars and will result in a higher Return on Marketing Dollar (ROMD) spent.

- - Case Study # 2 in Just a Moment - -

How would you like to get the "influencers" in your market to send you a consistent stream of referrals?

If that's your goal then the Instant Referral Systems program might be just what you need. In the Instant Referral Systems program you'll find

over 106 different and unique referral ideas that you can use to get people talking about you and your business.

The program not only explains each referral idea and concept, but in most cases, it shows you how the idea is already working in a specific business AND gives you the tools to implement them.

For more information about the Instant Referral Systems program visit http://www.InstantReferralSystems.com

- - Back to Case Study # 2 in Just a Moment - -

Case Study # 2 - Disability Benefits Consulting

I received an email from Michael Davidson who has a company that teaches people to become Disability Benefits Consultants.

Michael is setting up a marketing program that his students can use to attract their own disability benefits clients.

You can see his website that offers his training program at http://socialsecuritydisabilityadvocate.com

The obvious end user for their product is the person who needs to file for social security disability benefits or is having trouble getting the benefits they deserve.

How do you find that type of person? How do you get their mailing address so that you can market to them? Without doing a blanket advertising campaign it's nearly impossible.

So instead of marketing directly to his primary prospect we talked about marketing to "primary influencers" such as doctors, outpatient planners, and other social workers.

These people are easy to identify and contact...

...and they have a direct influence over people who need help with filing for disability benefits. I suggested that he teach his students how to set up "Lunch and Learn Seminars" in which his students brings lunch to a doctors office and does a seminar while the doctors staff has lunch and also learns about their services.

It's a convenient win-win.

Who are the Influencers In Your Market?

Marketing to "influencers" is simply smart marketing. It increases your return on marketing dollar because the Lifetime Value of an influencer is much higher due to the fact that they can bring you a lot of referrals.

Who are the influencers in your market?

Are you giving them special attention?

Do you have a special marketing program just for them?

Take some time to create a comprehensive list of the influencers in your market, then develop a special relationship marketing program tailored just for them.

You'll win more customers and your marketing costs will go down...and who wouldn't want that!