These are two of the most common frustrations we hear from business owners. Some struggle with silence, marketing that generates no response at all. Others get plenty of interest, but from people who are not a good fit. Both problems usually trace back to the same root cause: unclear audience targeting.

Signs Your Targeting Needs Work

Whether you are getting no enquiries or the wrong ones, the warning signs often overlap:

If you are getting no enquiries:

• Your website gets traffic but no contact form submissions
• Social media posts get likes but no messages or calls
• You are visible online but prospects choose competitors instead
• Paid advertising spends budget without generating leads

If you are getting the wrong enquiries:

• Prospects ask for services you do not provide
• Budget conversations end quickly (‘that is more than we expected’)
• Enquiries come from locations you do not serve
• Lots of quotes sent, very few accepted
• Customers who convert become difficult to work with

Both situations point to the same underlying issue: your marketing is either reaching people who are not interested, or people who are interested but not a good fit. Either way, it is a targeting problem, and targeting problems can be fixed.

Why This Happens

When enquiries are missing entirely, the problem is usually visibility or relevance. Your ideal customers either cannot find you, or when they do, nothing signals that you are the right fit for them. Your message might be too generic to stand out, or you might be marketing in places where your audience does not spend time.

When enquiries come but do not convert, the problem is usually filtering. Your marketing is reaching people, but not the right people. A plumber specialising in commercial fit-outs who markets as ‘plumbing services’ will get calls about leaky domestic taps. A consultant who does not mention pricing will attract prospects who cannot afford their services.

Sometimes the issue is channel selection. If you are advertising where your ideal customers do not spend time, you will either reach no one relevant or reach the wrong crowd entirely.

And sometimes it is messaging. If your website does not clearly communicate who you are for (and who you are not for), you will either blend into the background or attract everyone, including people you cannot help.

Defining Who You Actually Want

Before you can attract the right customers, you need to know who they are. This goes beyond basic demographics. Think about:

What problem are they trying to solve? Not what you sell, but what they are struggling with before they find you. Understanding their situation helps you speak directly to their needs.

What do your best customers have in common? Look at the clients you have enjoyed working with most, who valued what you delivered and paid without complaint. What patterns do you see? These patterns often reveal your true ideal customer.

Who can you genuinely help? Be honest about where your expertise lies. Trying to serve everyone often means serving no one particularly well.

Who should go elsewhere? This is harder to define, but important. Some customers will be better served by a different type of business. That is fine, referring them appropriately builds goodwill and protects your time.

Making Your Marketing More Specific

Once you are clear on your ideal customer, adjust your marketing to speak directly to them:

Be specific in your messaging. ‘We help growing e-commerce brands’ is more useful than ‘we help businesses’. Specificity attracts the right people and filters out the wrong ones.

Show relevant examples. If you want to work with restaurants, show restaurant projects. Prospects self-select based on whether they see themselves in your work.

Address their specific concerns. Generic benefits (‘save time, save money’) apply to everyone and therefore no one. Speak to the particular challenges your ideal customers face.

Be clear about who you are for. It feels risky to narrow your focus, but it actually improves conversion rates. The leads you lose were not going to convert anyway.

The Payoff

Better-targeted marketing solves both problems. If you are getting no enquiries, clearer targeting helps you reach people who actually want what you offer, and makes your message stand out to them. If you are getting the wrong enquiries, it filters out poor fits before they contact you.

Either way, you will spend less time on dead-end conversations and more time working with customers who value what you do.

If you are investing in digital marketing, make sure that investment is reaching people who can actually become customers. Otherwise, you are paying for visibility that does not pay back.

Not getting enquiries – or tired of the wrong ones? Social+ helps Newcastle businesses clarify their audience and create marketing that attracts the right customers. Book a free discovery call.

The post Why Your Marketing Isn’t Bringing the Right Leads appeared first on Social Plus.

But first, what is reactive marketing? Reactive marketing is marketing that is done in reaction to a particular situation as a tool to gain engagement with an audience. By responding to events in real-time, brands are seen as relatable and relevant.

Jet 2 Holidays

Firstly, we have an end date in sight for COVID-19 restrictions – 21^st June – and in response to this joyous news, Jet 2 reacted in the most perfect way. And who else would you want to see posting about the end of a global pandemic than your go-to affordable package holiday provider?

Since the beginning of the pandemic, everyone has been longing for their dream get away, some long-haul, other’s just want a few days in Benidorm with an excess amount of alcohol. Either way, Jet 2 had us all imagining the holiday of our dreams that we could potentially be on by the Summer! That’s if there is any location on the green list, nevertheless, the post gained so much interactivity, and I have no doubt a lot of holidays would have been booked as a result.

The Bernie Chair

Secondly, we have the Bernie chair. If you didn’t see one of the thousands of memes surfing every social media platform, then I will provide you with a little bit of context. During Joe Biden’s inauguration, Bernie Sanders sat very snug on a folded chair, with his knitted mittens and face mask, looking rather…bored to say the least.

IKEA gave us the most iconic response with the help of a Greek marketing agency.

An excellent response from IKEA Greece. In response to this Rise at Seven released their own version of the ad and had the most of LinkedIn fooled – thinking that was the real ad – to succeed in their mission to go viral. Let’s just say not everyone was as happy as CEO Carrie Rose was.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/carrieroseballoch_the-ikea-bernie-ad-that-went-out-i-have-activity-6759781510477352961-eRhx

Weetabix x Heinz

Weetabix posted a very controversial tweet in February – is Piers Morgan controlling their account? Potentially.

Now you may ask, what is reactive about this? It is every single reply from every company you can think of. The ultimate twitter thread. This single tweet had most companies talking about all things Weetabix and Heinz. I have no doubt that an official collaboration will be coming soon. With humorous responses from Lidl and Specsavers, the whole of twitter was laughing along with them.

#FreeCuthbert

This year Marks and Spencers have been in a legal dispute with Aldi over their Cuthbert the Caterpillar cake being too similar to the original Colin the Caterpillar; instead of shying away from their legal battle being in the press, Aldi made sure to make it public knowledge.

#FreeCuthbert had the internet talking, every brand, person and their dog were choosing sides between Colin and Cuthbert. The biggest national dispute since the 2019 general election. Aldi took their legal implications into their own hands and turned the issue into a lighthearted situation, receiving both engagement and interactivity online.

The post The Best Reactive Marketing of 2021 (so far)! appeared first on Social Plus.