Pt 29 – The Targeting Conundrum

We’ve all experienced the difficulty in putting together a succinct list of targets when prospecting for new business. Where do you start?

We tend to break this down into four key areas:

•       Must-haves – those targets that fit with the ethos, pedigree and service capability of the agency

•       Lapsed – those companies that we’ve had previous relationships with but have fallen by the wayside just due to time pressures

•       Generics – the bread and butter targets that still sit within the service offering as being appropriate but offer a lower level but regular revenue stream , the bedrock of the agency in effect. A particular important stream which avoids the pitfalls of having just one major client supporting the business. Great whilst it lasts but a dangerous commercial position to be in as many will testify.

•       Black book – these comprise of the network contacts that have not been utilised to this point, referrals to be picked up and connections that exist within the framework of a network and are there to be approached.

There might appear to be a very simple logic within this process but this roadmap for targeting works effectively when you add scenarios such as targeted virals, as an example, where you can tweek the message to suit the target audience on an ongoing basis.

Within a variety of agencies there are of course other more personal relationships that can be called upon but these do need to be handled carefully to ensure avoidance of conflict. A good example of this was an engineering company that an agency supported with their internal comms. Given the relationship had been established with a central head office, when you scratched under the surface, we found over 50 separate offices with their own marketing activity. All had seen the internal comms work so were aware of the quality of the output and the majority engaged over a 12 month period. That created multiple revenue streams that were not evident at first glance.

These are our thoughts and they by no means cover all the bases but should act as a useful starting point particularly from a tactical perspective.

Thanks, as always, for reading.