Bickert Management Inc. - Blog , Marketing Management

The Death of the Printer: Why "Wet Ink" is Costing You Deals in 2026

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 03:34:02 -0700

Sales Efficiency & Operations • 8 Min Read

Let’s play a quick game. I want you to imagine you are a customer. You just agreed to buy a service. You are excited. You are ready to go.

Then, the salesperson says: "Great! I just emailed you the PDF. Please print it out, sign it, scan it, and email it back to me."

Your excitement dies instantly.

Now you have a chore. You have to find a printer. You have to find ink. You have to find a scanner app that doesn't put a giant watermark on the page. In 2026, asking a client to print a document is not just annoying; it is a Deal Killer.

We live in the "Uber Era." If I can order a car, a meal, and a vacation from my phone in 30 seconds, why is signing a contract harder than buying a house?

This guide is about removing the single biggest speed bump in your sales cycle. It is about the shift to Digital Signature Intelligence (using tools like Zoho Sign) and why the most profitable companies in the world have thrown their printers in the trash.

Section 1: Speed is the Only Currency That Matters

Here is a sales statistic that should keep you awake at night: "Time kills all deals."

Every minute that passes between "Yes" and "Signed" is a minute where the client can change their mind. They might talk to their spouse. They might see a competitor's ad. They might just get busy and forget.

The "5-Minute" Contract

You hang up the phone.
You click "Send for Signature" in your CRM.
The client's phone buzzes.
They open the link, scribble their finger on the screen, and hit "Finish."

Total elapsed time: 45 seconds.

You strike while the iron is hot. You lock in the commitment before the call is even officially over. This simple switch increases close rates by upwards of 30%.

Section 2: "But is it Legal?" (The Myth)

This is the most common question we hear from traditional business owners: "Does a digital signature actually count in court?"

The Answer: Yes. In fact, it is more valid than ink.

When you scribble with a pen on paper, there is no proof of who signed it or when they signed it. It’s just ink. It can be forged.

The Digital Audit Trail

Tools like Zoho Sign generate a Certificate of Completion. This is a forensic digital footprint that records:

The exact IP address of the signer.
The exact time they opened the email.
The exact time they signed.
The device they used (iPhone vs Desktop).

If a dispute ever arises, you don't just have a signature; you have a data-backed history of the event. In 2026, this is the gold standard for legal compliance in Canada, the US, and Europe.

Section 3: Stop Being the "Admin" of Your Own Business

How much time does your team spend "chasing" signatures?

"Did they sign yet?" ... "I don't know, let me check my email." ... "Can you follow up with them?"

This is low-value work.

Automated Nagging

Modern signing tools have "Auto-Reminders." You set the rule:

"If they haven't signed in 48 hours, send a polite reminder email."

The software does the chasing for you. You don't have to be the "bad guy" nagging the client. The system does it gently and consistently until the deal is done. Your sales team can focus on selling, not babysitting documents.

Section 4: It’s Not Just for Sales (The HR Bonus)

While Sales gets the glory, your HR department is the one drowning in paper. Think about hiring a new employee.

The Offer Letter.
The NDA.
The Tax Forms (TD1).
The Employee Handbook acknowledgment.

Sending a new hire a 50-page PDF to print and scan is a terrible "First Day" experience. It says, "Welcome to the company! We are slow and outdated."

Digitizing this process means your new hire can sign all their paperwork from their couch before their first day. They show up on Monday morning ready to work, not ready to do paperwork.

Conclusion: The "Paperless" Badge of Honor

Going paperless isn't just about "Saving the Trees" (although that’s a nice bonus). It is about Respect.

It respects your client's time (no printing).
It respects your team's time (no chasing).
It respects your business's security.

In 2026, a digital signature is a signal. It tells the world that you are a modern, agile, efficient operation.

The printer had a good run. It served us well for 30 years. But it’s time to let it retire.

Are you ready to close deals faster?

Go Paperless in 24 Hours

How Global Teams Are Escaping "Email Hell" to Master Project Delivery in 2026

Fri, 09 Jan 2026 01:51:32 -0700

Introduction: The "24-Hour" Work Cycle

If you are running a modern business, the sun never truly sets on your operations.

You might have a client in London, a developer in India, a designer in Brazil, and a project manager in California. This is the Global Advantage. It allows businesses to work 24/7, moving faster than ever before.

But this advantage comes with a hidden cost: Communication Chaos.

When your team is spread across five time zones, how do you keep everyone on the same page?

If you rely on Email, you are burying critical updates in a messy inbox.
If you rely on Spreadsheets, you are looking at static data that is obsolete the moment someone saves the file.
If you rely on WhatsApp/Slack, you are creating a "noisy" culture where everyone is chatting, but no one knows what the actual deadline is.

We call this "The Project Fog." It is the number one reason why 70% of international projects fail to launch on time.

In this guide, we are going to explore the shift from "Managing by Inbox" to "Operating Systems for Work." We will look at how high-performance global teams use tools like Zoho Projects to create a single source of truth that transcends borders, languages, and time zones.

Section 1: The Death of the "Status Meeting"

In the old world (local offices), if you wanted to know the status of a project, you called a meeting. You sat in a room for an hour, went around the table, and asked, "Where are we on this?"

In a global remote environment, the "Status Meeting" is a productivity killer. Trying to find a time that works for Tokyo, London, and New York is a nightmare. And when you finally do meet, half the team is tired, and the other half is just starting their day.

The Asynchronous Revolution

The most successful international companies have shifted to Asynchronous Management. This means the "Status" of a project doesn't live in a manager's head; it lives in the Project Dashboard.

With a centralized system like Zoho Projects, the question "Where are we on this?" is never asked. You simply log in and look.

The Kanban Board: Visually see which tasks are "In Progress," "In Review," or "Done."
The Dependency Tree: See instantly that the Design Team (Brazil) cannot start until the Copy Team (UK) finishes their draft.

When the status is visible to everyone, 24/7, you don't need meetings to update people. You only need meetings to solve problems. This saves the average global team 10+ hours a week per employee.

Section 2: Resource Management (Who is Doing What?)

One of the biggest risks in global operations is Burnout. Because you can't "see" your remote employees, it is easy to accidentally overload your best performer. You might assign them three new projects, not realizing they are already working 12-hour days.

Conversely, you might have a talented junior employee sitting idle because you forgot to assign them a task.

The "Utilization" Heat Map

Modern Project Management isn't just about tasks; it is about People. Tools like Zoho Projects provide a "Resource Utilization Chart." This is a visual heat map of your workforce.

Red Zone: Employee is booked for 50 hours this week. (Danger: Re-assign tasks immediately).
Green Zone: Employee is booked for 30 hours. (Optimal).
Blue Zone: Employee is booked for 5 hours. (Opportunity: Assign more work).

This visibility allows you to balance the load across your global workforce. It ensures that your team in Asia isn't drowning while your team in Europe is waiting for work. It turns "Resource Allocation" from a guess into a science.

Section 3: The "Client Portal" (Transparency Builds Trust)

How do you update your clients? Do you send them a long, bullet-pointed email every Friday? Do they reply with, "Can you resend the file from last week? I lost it."

This is "Email Ping-Pong," and it destroys client confidence.

Inviting the Client "Inside"

In 2026, transparency is the ultimate trust builder. Instead of emailing updates, world-class agencies and consultants give their clients access to a Client Portal.

The View: The client logs in (via a secure link). They see a simplified dashboard. They see the timeline. They see the percentage of completion.
The Collaboration: They can comment directly on a task. "Can we change this color to blue?"
The Files: Every contract, design mock-up, and invoice is stored in the portal. They never have to ask you to "resend" a file again.

When a client can see the work happening, they feel secure. They stop micromanaging you. They stop sending "Just checking in" emails. They let you work.

Section 4: Budget vs. Reality (The Profit Trap)

Here is a hard truth: A project delivered "on time" can still lose money.

If you quoted the client $5,000 for a website, expecting it to take 50 hours, but your team actually spent 100 hours on it, you have lost money. You just don't know it yet.

Integrated Time Tracking

This is where the "Global Operating System" shines. Your Project Management tool must be connected to your Timesheets.

The Timer: Developers and creatives track their time directly on the task.
The Comparison: The system compares "Planned Hours" vs. "Actual Hours" in real-time.

If a project is 30% complete but has used 60% of the budget, the system triggers an alert. You know today that you are going over budget, not after the project is finished. This allows you to course-correct, renegotiate scope, or improve efficiency before the profit margin evaporates.

Section 5: Automation (The Robot Project Manager)

The final layer of a mature system is Automation. Project Managers spend huge amounts of time on "Admin Trivia"—creating folders, assigning tasks, sending reminders.

The "Blueprint" Solution: You can script your ideal workflow into the software.

Trigger: Sales Team marks a deal as "Won" in the CRM.
Action 1: System automatically creates a new "Onboarding Project."
Action 2: System assigns the "Legal Review" task to the Legal Team.
Action 3: System creates a Google Drive folder for the client.
Action 4: System sends a "Welcome" email to the client with their portal login.

Zero human clicks. Zero human error. The project starts instantly, following the exact same standard operating procedure (SOP) every single time, whether the team is in London or Sydney.

Conclusion: Stop Managing Tasks, Start Managing Outcomes

The world is getting smaller. Your talent pool is now global. Your client base is international. But "Global" doesn't have to mean "Complicated."

The difference between a stressed, chaotic company and a calm, scalable enterprise is the System. When you move your operations out of the Inbox and into a dedicated Project Management environment, you stop fighting fires. You gain visibility. You gain accountability. And most importantly, you gain the freedom to grow without the chaos growing with you.

Is your business ready to scale globally, or are you still stuck in the inbox?

Get Started Now

The End of the "Blast": Why Hyper-Personalization is the Only Survival Strategy for Canadian Brands in 2026

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 02:08:14 -0700

Introduction: The "Unsubscribe" Button is Your Report Card

Marketing used to be simple. You bought a list (or built one), you wrote a generic newsletter, and you hit "Send All." If you sent 10,000 emails and got a 1% conversion rate, you made sales. It was a numbers game.

In 2026, playing that numbers game is financial suicide.

We have entered the age of "Inbox Zero" Culture and AI-driven spam filters. Gmail and Outlook no longer just filter "Spam"; they filter "Irrelevance." If your email doesn't feel like it was written specifically for the person reading it, it goes to the "Promotions" dungeon, never to be seen again.

For Canadian businesses, the stakes are even higher. With strict CASL (Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation) enforcement and rising ad costs, you cannot afford to burn your leads with generic content.

The solution is Marketing Automation, but not the way most people do it. It isn't about sending more emails automatically. It's about sending fewer, smarter emails. It's about shifting from "Broadcasting" to "Conversing."

In this deep dive, we are going to dismantle the old "Email Blast" model and build a 2026-ready engine using tools like Zoho Marketing Automation and Zoho Campaigns. We will explore how to treat every single customer as a "Segment of One."

Section 1: The "Behavioral Trigger" Revolution

Most businesses segment their lists by demographics: "All customers in Toronto" or "All customers who bought shoes." This is "Level 1" segmentation. It is better than nothing, but it is still lazy.

"Level 5" segmentation—the kind that drives 400% ROI—is based on Behavior.

Listening, Not Just Talking

Modern marketing platforms are not megaphones; they are listening devices. By integrating your website tracking with your CRM (Customer Relationship Management), you can trigger actions based on what a user does, not just who they are.

The "Ghost Cart" Scenario:

The Old Way: You send a generic "Check out our new products" email on Tuesday morning because that's what your content calendar says. The customer, who just abandoned a cart on Monday night, ignores it.
The New Way (Behavioral): The system detects the user visited the "Pricing Page" three times in 24 hours but didn't buy.
- Trigger: Wait 2 hours.
- Action: Send a plain-text (non-designed) email from the Founder saying: "Hey, saw you were checking out the pricing. Do you have any questions about the Enterprise plan?"

This feels like magic to the customer. It feels like a human is paying attention. In reality, it is a Workflow Rule inside Zoho Marketing Automation that runs while you sleep.

Why "Intent" Drives Deliverability

Search engines and inboxes reward "Intent." When your content matches the user's immediate need, your engagement scores skyrocket. High engagement tells email providers (Google/Yahoo) that you are a "Safe Sender," ensuring your future emails actually hit the Primary Inbox rather than the Spam folder.

Introduction: The "Unsubscribe" Button is Your Report Card

In 2026, playing that numbers game is financial suicide.

For Canadian businesses, the stakes are even higher. With strict CASL (Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation) enforcement and rising ad costs, you cannot afford to burn your leads with generic content.

Section 1: The "Behavioral Trigger" Revolution

"Level 5" segmentation—the kind that drives 400% ROI—is based on Behavior.

Listening, Not Just Talking

The "Ghost Cart" Scenario:

The Old Way: You send a generic "Check out our new products" email on Tuesday morning because that's what your content calendar says. The customer, who just abandoned a cart on Monday night, ignores it.
The New Way (Behavioral): The system detects the user visited the "Pricing Page" three times in 24 hours but didn't buy.
- Trigger: Wait 2 hours.
- Action: Send a plain-text (non-designed) email from the Founder saying: "Hey, saw you were checking out the pricing. Do you have any questions about the Enterprise plan?"

This feels like magic to the customer. It feels like a human is paying attention. In reality, it is a Workflow Rule inside Zoho Marketing Automation that runs while you sleep.

Why "Intent" Drives Deliverability

Section 2: Visualizing the Journey (The "Builder" Canvas)

If you cannot draw your customer's experience on a whiteboard, you cannot automate it.

The most powerful feature in the modern marketing stack is the Journey Builder. This is a drag-and-drop canvas where you design the logic of your relationship.

Anatomy of a "Welcome Series" in 2026

A standard "Thanks for subscribing" email is wasted real estate. A 2026 Journey looks like this:

Entry: Customer downloads a "2026 Industry Report" PDF.
Day 0 (Immediate): Deliver the PDF via email.
Day 2 (Condition):Did they open the Day 0 email?
- If NO: Send a reminder with a different subject line ("You missed this").
- If YES: Send a "Value Add" email—a video case study related to the PDF topic.
Day 5 (The Pivot): Check CRM data. Is this lead a CEO or a Manager?
- If CEO: Invite to a VIP Webinar on strategy.
- If Manager: Send a "How-To" guide on implementation.

This is Branching Logic. It ensures that a CEO never sees a basic "How-To" email, and a Manager never gets bored with high-level strategy fluff. You are curating the experience automatically.

Note: You can download pre-built Journey templates for Canadian Service Businesses in our Marketing Solutions Shop to save you weeks of setup time.

Section 3: Omnichannel is the New Standard (Beyond Email)

Here is a hard truth: Email open rates are declining globally. Even the best campaigns struggle to break 40%. If you rely 100% on email, you are ignoring 60% of your audience.

Omnichannel Marketing means hitting the user on the channel they prefer, all orchestrated from one central brain (Zoho).

The "SMS" Nuance

SMS (Text Message) marketing has a 98% open rate. But it is invasive. If you abuse it, you lose the customer forever.

Use Email for: Education, Storytelling, Long-form offers.
Use SMS for: Urgency. "Your delivery is arriving" or "Flash Sale ends in 1 hour."

The WhatsApp Bridge

For many Canadian businesses dealing with international clients or younger demographics, WhatsApp for Business integration is becoming critical. A quick WhatsApp ping asking "Is this a good time to call?" converts 3x higher than a cold call.

Your automation system should be smart enough to try Email first, and if (and only if) the email is unopened for 48 hours, try an SMS nudge. This is "Smart Fallback" logic, and it prevents you from being annoying while ensuring your message is seen.

Section 4: Lead Scoring (Separating "Shoppers" from "Buyers")

Marketing's job isn't just to generate leads. It is to generate qualified leads. If you send your Sales team 100 leads, and 90 of them are broke students looking for free advice, your Sales team will stop trusting Marketing.

This is where Lead Scoring changes the culture.

The Algorithm of Interest

You assign point values to actions inside your automation software:

Opened an email: +1 point.
Clicked a link: +5 points.
Visited the "Careers" page: -10 points (likely a job seeker, not a buyer).
Visited the "Pricing" page: +20 points.
Downloaded a Case Study: +15 points.

The "Sales Handoff" Trigger: You set a threshold—say, 50 points. The moment a lead hits 50 points, the system:

Changes their status from "Cold" to "Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)."
Creates a Task in Zoho CRM for the sales rep: "Call John Smith ASAP - High Intent."
Stops the marketing nurture emails (so you don't annoy them while Sales is talking to them).

This aligns Sales and Marketing. Sales only talks to people who are "warm," and Marketing gets credit for delivering revenue, not just "clicks."

Section 5: The CASL Compliance Shield (Canadian Context)

We cannot talk about marketing in Canada without talking about the law. CASL (Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation) is one of the strictest in the world. The penalties for non-compliance can reach into the millions.

If you are managing your unsubscribes via an Excel spreadsheet, you are a ticking time bomb.

Automating Consent Management

Using a platform like Zoho Campaigns automates compliance:

Double Opt-In: Ensures the user actually owns the email address.
Consent Expiry: CASL has rules about "Implied Consent" (e.g., it expires 2 years after a purchase). A good automation system tracks this timeline and automatically moves users to a "Do Not Contact" list when their consent expires, protecting you from fines.
Footer Management: Automatically inserts your physical mailing address and a one-click unsubscribe link, which are legally required.

Compliance isn't sexy, but it is the foundation of trust. And in 2026, Trust is your most valuable currency.

Conclusion: Don't Just Automate—Humanize

There is a paradox in automation: The more you automate the robotic tasks, the more human your brand becomes.

When you stop spending 10 hours a week manually copying and pasting email addresses, you gain 10 hours a week to write better stories, design better creatives, and actually talk to your customers.

The era of the "Blast" is over. It has been replaced by the era of the Conversation. Your customers are waiting to hear from you—but they want to hear from you, not a robot. Use the tools to build the bridge, but let your unique brand voice walk across it.

Are you ready to turn your email list into a revenue engine?

Start Your Automation Journey

Stop Sending "Spam." Start Sending Value. Don't risk your domain reputation with bad data. Visit our Marketing Solution Shop for CASL-compliant email templates, Lead Scoring setups, and pre-built Customer Journey maps for Zoho Marketing Automation.

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Boosting ROI in 2023: 5 Simple eCommerce Email Ideas to Drive Success

Tue, 13 Jun 2023 02:25:15 -0600

In the fast-paced world of eCommerce, staying ahead of the competition is crucial to ensuring a healthy return on investment (ROI). One effective way to engage customers, build brand loyalty, and drive sales is through email marketing campaigns. In this blog post, we'll explore five simple yet powerful eCommerce email ideas that can help you improve your ROI in 2023. These ideas are designed to maximize customer engagement and conversion rates, ultimately leading to increased revenue for your online business.

1. Personalized Product Recommendations:

One of the most effective ways to boost ROI is by sending personalized product recommendations to your customers. Leverage data from their past purchases, browsing behavior, and preferences to create targeted email campaigns. By offering personalized recommendations based on their interests and buying history, you can significantly increase the chances of conversion. Make sure to include compelling visuals, clear call-to-action buttons, and limited-time offers to entice customers to make a purchase.

2. Abandoned Cart Recovery:

Cart abandonment is a common challenge for ecommerce businesses. However, you can turn this into an opportunity to recover lost sales by implementing an abandoned cart email campaign. Send automated emails to remind customers about the items they left behind, offering incentives like discounts or free shipping to entice them to complete the purchase. Additionally, include customer reviews or testimonials to instil confidence in their decision to buy.

3. Exclusive Offers and Promotions:

Everyone loves a good deal, so leverage the power of exclusive offers and promotions in your email campaigns. Create a sense of urgency by using limited-time offers, flash sales, or early access to new products. Highlight the value customers will receive by taking advantage of these deals and make the call-to-action clear and enticing. By creating a sense of exclusivity, you can drive more traffic to your ecommerce store and increase conversions.

4. Loyalty Programs and Rewards:

Rewarding loyal customers is an excellent way to foster long-term relationships and boost customer lifetime value. Implement a loyalty program and use email marketing to communicate exclusive rewards, discounts, or points updates. Send personalized emails on birthdays, anniversaries, or milestones to make your customers feel appreciated and valued. This personal touch will strengthen their connection with your brand and encourage repeat purchases.

5. Post-Purchase Follow-up:

The customer journey doesn't end at the point of purchase; it's an ongoing process. Send post-purchase follow-up emails to thank customers for their purchase and ask for feedback. This not only shows appreciation but also provides an opportunity to address any issues or concerns they may have. You can also use these emails to cross-sell related products or encourage customers to leave reviews, which can further enhance your brand's reputation and attract new customers.

Conclusion:

Incorporating these five simple eCommerce email ideas into your marketing strategy for 2023 can have a significant impact on your ROI. Remember to personalize your emails, utilize abandoned cart recovery, offers exclusive promotions, reward loyal customers, and follow up after purchases. By leveraging the power of email marketing, you can engage customers, increase conversions, and ultimately drive revenue for your eCommerce business. Stay ahead of the competition by implementing these strategies and watch your RO soar in the year ahead.

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Marketing and Advertising Strategies

Thu, 02 Mar 2023 01:07:44 -0700

Welcome to our blog on marketing and advertising strategies! In this edition, we will share valuable insights to help you boost your business by reaching the right audience with the right message. Let's dive in!

Know Your Audience: You must understand your target audience to create effective marketing and advertising strategies. Take the time to research their demographics, interests, and behaviour to create messages that resonate with them.

Leverage Social Media: Social media is a powerful tool to reach a wider audience. Use platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram to connect with potential customers and promote your products and services.

Focus on SEO: Search engine optimization (SEO) is critical to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). Optimize your website and content with relevant keywords, meta descriptions, and alt tags to increase your visibility and attract more visitors.

Use Content Marketing: Content marketing is an effective way to attract and engage potential customers. Create valuable content like blog posts, articles, videos, and infographics that educate and inspire your audience.

Invest in Email Marketing: Email marketing is still a powerful marketing tool to promote your business. Use email newsletters, promotional emails, and drip campaigns to stay in touch with your subscribers and build relationships with them.

Experiment with Paid Advertising: Paid advertising can be a quick way to get your message in front of the right people. Experiment with pay-per-click (PPC) ads on platforms like Google Ads and Facebook Ads to drive more traffic to your website and increase conversions.

Are you looking for a seamless way to manage your marketing and advertising strategies? Zoho offers a suite of powerful tools that can help you streamline your marketing efforts and drive business growth.

Zoho Social: Zoho Social is a social media management tool that lets you manage your social media accounts, schedule posts, and track performance metrics from a single platform. With Zoho Social, you can collaborate with your team, engage with your audience, and analyze your social media performance to improve your marketing efforts.
Zoho Campaigns: Zoho Campaigns is an email marketing tool that lets you create and send professional email campaigns, track email opens, clicks, and conversions, and automate your email marketing workflows. With Zoho Campaigns, you can segment your audience, personalize your messages, and analyze your email campaign results to improve your marketing efforts.
Zoho Marketing Automation: Zoho Marketing Automation is a tool that lets you create and execute personalized marketing campaigns across multiple channels, including email, social media, and SMS. With Zoho Marketing Automation, you can automate your lead nurturing, score your leads, and analyze your campaign performance to improve your marketing ROI.

In conclusion, effective marketing and advertising strategies can help you boost your business and reach new heights. Take the time to research your target audience, leverage social media, focus on SEO, use content marketing, invest in email marketing, and experiment with paid advertising to see what works best for your business.

Thank you for reading our blog on marketing and advertising strategies. We hope you found it helpful. Stay tuned for more insights and tips to grow your business.

Until next time,

Your BMI family.

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The Cost of Not Knowing Your Target Audience

Thu, 12 Mar 2020 03:57:54 -0600

Public speaking, performing arts, pitching, and marketing—what do all these have in common? These seemingly diverse niches are all unified in their need to “know their audience.” However, what does that type of knowledge entail? You may have heard this concept iterated as a company’s “target demographic,” “buyer profiles,” or “personas.” Whatever term resonates most with your company, understand that having a firm and studied grasp on your target market is a critical element of business success. Failing to properly identify the people likely to convert will hamstring the growth and success of your business.

Why Should You Know Your Audience?

Understanding who your business audience is should not only be important—it should be the first step you take on the path to success. Consider, for example, a company trying to sell a set of high-end headphones. Who might be most interested in these? This company understands that it is best not just to guess who might convert on this product; instead, the business reviews its data and discovers that ads that play on YouTube videos related to competitive gaming and streaming services perform well, while those displaying on music videos see very little activity.

Over time, the brand can narrow its buyer persona—in other words, its target audience for these high-end headphones—to a small subset of internet culture surrounding Twitch streamers playing competitive video games. Of the people who participate in this sphere, 71% are millennials with an average age of 21, and 81.5% are male. Thus, this company understands that advertising to 40-year-old women is likely to result in low conversion and would be an overall waste of time.

This, however, is just the beginning. Once the shape of the most engaged audience is identified, the company must put in the effort to speak that audience’s language—which means more than just choosing words wisely. The company must identify what buyers want from the product they offer and ensure such a message is being conveyed. In the headphone example, if Twitch streamers are seeking gear that produces clear sound quality so that nothing takes them by surprise while gaming, the company needs to clarify that their product fulfills this requirement.

Similarly, the company must put effort into learning the consumers’ perceived barriers to conversion—cost, accessibility, and fashion are just a few of nearly innumerable examples for this specific product. Discovering that particular audience’s decision criteria, or the critical elements that buyers are considering when making a purchase decision, will allow marketing to be tailored to these unique personas. All of these features and discoveries together, when unified into a targeted marketing campaign, will generate a positive company image that engenders respect, trust, and a sense of reliability among consumers. This, in turn, encourages them to convert because the messaging speaks directly to their needs, in their own language.

The Costs of Missing Out

Reevaluating a marketing strategy and putting in the effort to discover these targeted features may seem like a lot of work, and perhaps you feel like the amount of time spent on the process isn’t worth it. This couldn’t be further from the truth. The costs of missing out on communicating directly with a brand’s target audience are massive and add up quickly.

Likely the most obvious pitfall of targeting poorly is wasted spend--money is funneled to marketing that is not reaching users who will convert, or it’s not addressing potential buyers' wants and needs appropriately, resulting in low conversion rates. This is often one of a company’s biggest money sinks. In general, reaching a wider demographic for maximum exposure is rarely the best option.

Companies may also suffer a more prolonged and less noticeable loss over time in the form of product development inhibitions or developments that do nothing to improve sales. Returning to the example of the headphones, a company that does not have data on its target audience may speculate that the reason its headphones are not selling is that they don’t look fashionable enough, so people are unwilling to wear them. This leads the company down a development route focused on looks. However, data from the correct buyer personas would indicate that the main improvement buyers are seeking is a longer headphone cord so they can sit further away from their computers while they game. This lack of audience awareness will lead the company down a costly and ultimately fruitless development path that will sink money into improvements that customers don’t care about and that do not have an impact on the buying decision.

How to Retarget

If you’ve identified that your company may be advertising to the wrong audience, a stint of retargeting is in order. Retargeting refers to two prongs of marketing:

1. Getting bounced users to return to your site and

2. Reevaluating your target audience

One of the key strategies companies can use to retarget and dial in on their buyer personas is via interview. By gathering information directly from the people who convert for your company, you can learn valuable and actionable information about what makes people purchase your product and why. There is no substitute for speaking directly with a converted customer to learn what made them convert in the first place.

Retargeting in this way enables a business to learn a couple of key facts about its ideal audience. These include what information the buyer needs to make the decision to convert or purchase, such as:

Where these buyers can be found
When they are most receptive to the message you’re sending them
What features of your purchasing argument are most effective in convincing them that the product will add value

By understanding these thought processes for each potential consumer, any company will be poised to better act upon their data and craft a marketing plan that will target the proper personas at the correct time, with the correct language, and featuring the most effective demonstration of the product that resonates with the buyer for the greatest success.

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