Reaching a niche audience—and only those people—can be tricky. But in a post at his eponymous blog, Seth Godin proposes the inventive approach of piggybacking onto a product that your target market already wants.
Say you have a rock band with a quirky sound, and people who like your music also like The B-52's. Riffing on an idea from Kpao!'s Dave Cortwright, Godin suggests buying a bunch of CDs by the Athens, Georgia, band, and listing them on eBay.
"Price them ridiculously low, like a dollar," says Godin. "The only people who are going to buy a copy are focused fans. Then, when you ship out the CD, include your new CD in the box as well. You've reached exactly the right people (purchasers! who spent money! who are fans!) at exactly the right moment."
He points out that such a strategy doesn't have to include eBay. If your massage service, for instance, complements a fitness service offered by a personal trainer in your neighborhood, you could give her a dozen introductory gift certificates for her best customers.
The Po!nt: Get creative in the way you market to people who buy similar products or services. According to Godin, your hypothetical rock band could spend $10,000 on advertisements, or you could place samples of your product in the hands of 1,000 "perfect" fans. "Thinking small," he says. "It tends to work."
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