Finding your Audience
Aimee Carnwath
23 July 2024Most of you will have a very clear understanding of who your audience is, and most likely that will be quite simple – anybody that wants to buy a house or anybody who wants to protect themselves or their family? However, you will also know that within that broad audience, there are different groups – for example, those who may be thinking about buying their first home, those who may be building a property empire, those who simply want to make sure they are on the best rate possible. Because of this, it makes sense to target your marketing activities to the so-called ‘sub-audiences’.
Let's dive into how you can find and understand your target audience better.
They key to targeting certain segments of your audience is to collect useful data that will help you do this within your marketing database; for example within Mailchimp which we use for marketing emails, we can select to only send an email to firms based in Scotland, or to only those who are interested in our events, or a combination of both of the above. This helps to ensure that your messages are tailored specifically to the people it’s meant for, and helps to deliver greater engagement and success. For obvious reasons, you would not send information for landlords about EPC ratings and changes in the BTL market to a customer who has not even bought their first home yet.
Analysing Your Existing Client Base
Firstly, begin by examining your current clients. They offer invaluable insights that can guide your marketing efforts and most likely, you will want to have different messages for those who are already customers and those who you hope to convert into customers.Often, companies unintentionally build their own target audience over time through word-of-mouth, advisers’ specific areas of expertise, or their physical location. For example you may be specialists in large loans, you may primarily work with those in your local area, or you may have a large client bank built from family and friend referrals. Look at what services they used you for, and then look at the gaps – are there any missed opportunities? Once you have understood who your existing customers are and what their commonalities are, you should use this to target messages that are relevant and targeted to them.
Understanding where your customers come from
Knowing how new clients find you is crucial for refining your marketing strategy when it comes to generating leads and targeting prospective customers. It’s important to understand whether you get most of your referrals through word-of-mouth, social media/online presence or professional networks. Establishing this allows you to enhance what's already working; for example, if most come from social media then you know that this is where to focus your efforts, or if the majority are referrals from existing clients, consider implementing a referral rewards program – and of course asking for testimonials that you can use elsewhere too.Even if your social media or online presence are not your primary source of lead generation, I believe it is still vital that you offer a user-friendly and simple means of converting any interest into an enquiry. In simple terms, you need to have a social media page which provides the basic information about your services and how to get in touch with you. Likewise, you should have a website that is easy to use, has up to date, accurate information about your services as an absolute minimum, and contact details. Clearly, there is much more that can be done to bring your website to the next level – for example, meet the team pages, blog articles, testimonials, a section for existing customers – which are worth investing the time and money into building so that you can stand out from the crowd. Investing in search engine optimisation (SEO) and online advertising, e.g. paid advertising on a platform such as Facebook, can help to boost your visibility and generate more leads for you.
Earlier this year, Pepper Money’s Specialist Lending Study revealed some eye-opening statistics that demonstrate the need and opportunity that exists from communicating with our audience about finances:
- 48% of people with adverse credit are unaware that there are some lenders only available through mortgage brokers.
- 58% of customers with adverse credit would seek the advice of a mortgage broker (what would the remaining 42% do?)
- 64% are still concerned about the cost-of-living crisis on finances (Dec 2023)
- 58% are concerned about the financial future
We would strongly recommend that you collect and display positive feedback and testimonials from satisfied clients. You should encourage happy clients to share their experiences on review sites or social media, as positive reviews can be a huge influence on potential clients and significantly enhances your credibility.
