In marketing, one of the most fundamental mistakes is creating an ad and expecting it to work without properly identifying your target audience. There’s no such thing as a “one-size-fits-all” approach with marketing, which is why understanding who the key decision maker or buyer is for your products or services must, in turn, drive your approach.

Two of the largest types of businesses we work with at J. Fitzgerald Group are construction equipment manufacturers and medical and health care practices, each of which have distinctly unique needs and different audiences to consider. While no two organizations within these industries are the same, there are some generalities to consider that can drive some of the planning within each group. Let’s look at both industries as micro case studies of understanding your audience.

Construction Marketing Audiences

Targeting the right audience for construction OEMs requires truly understanding who they are, where they work and how they work. While the off-the-cuff idea of a heavy equipment customer might conjure a gruff-looking guy in a hardhat, that’s not who you are trying to reach – you need to get your brand and your messaging to those in charge, who make the decisions about what to purchase and work each day to make their work more efficient and more profitable.

You need your marketing to appeal to their sense of efficiency and reliability.

Your equipment or services need to make work faster, simpler, easier or cheaper. The customer needs to know that when they need to buy new equipment or schedule a service call, you’ll be there, offering rapid response time and reliable work. You’re aiming to be a reliable and trusted resource, not merely a construction equipment vendor – you want to be their first call for whatever they need.

Targeting Construction Audiences

You know your message needs to emphasis the benefits and reliability of your offerings, but how do you get in touch with your audience?

One common option for construction manufacturers is email campaigns. Many times, a customer will reach out through a website or provide an email for you to send updates about billing or offers. Take full advantage of these addresses by creating targeted email campaigns that can deliver promotional messaging or provide updates on equipment service needs.

Another option is to look at lifestyles. Many people listen to radio – whether over the air or steaming – while working or during their commute. Sports and popular action shows offer potential opportunities for video promotions. If your audience is in an urban area, print ads on public transportation lines can reach decision makers on their way to and from the job.

Finally, direct contact is a tried and true method. You know where your current customers are – so reach out. Try mailing flyers or postcards with special offers or useful news about the industry. Don’t always promote – work to inform and educate as well to grow your authority as the expert your customers can trust.

Medical Marketing Audiences

Switching gears from construction and heavy equipment – pun absolutely intended – there’s the medical audience. With medicine, your audience is far more specific and seeking solutions. Often the decision maker is a parent of a sick child or an individual in need of specific services for a given condition. Your goal isn’t always to target the person in need of services directly – instead, you need to make sure that when someone needs medical care, your name is the one that comes to mind.

Thus, in medical marketing, you need to position yourself as the expert in your field and who to call when a need arises.

More often than not, people are not out actively searching for medical care. When a person is well, they don’t generally give much thought to finding a medical imaging specialist or primary care physicians. These needs arise only in active-need situations – changing insurance providers or jobs or when a specific medical concern arises. You want them to think of you first, when possible, or if they’re not sure what they need and are searching for services, you want them to find you first.

Targeting Medical Audiences

To effectively promote your practice or medical services, then, you need to increase overall awareness of who you are and what you do. This can take a wide variety of forms, and will often be most driven the specifics of your demographic audience. For example, an orthopedic specialist will want to target active and athletic audiences primarily, but also offers services to patients of any age with bone or muscle problems. On the other hand, a pediatrician’s services appeal to parents of children, meaning marketing can target a far more specific audience.

Your medical brand awareness campaign, then, needs to reach the best audience for your services. For broad practices, this can mean selecting media placements that can reach diverse audiences and have a large volume of visibility such as television advertising, radio spots and billboards. More targeted medical providers can be more selective, opting for more niche selections, like placing ads for obstetrics and gynecology during programs that are targeted to a predominantly female demographic, for instance.

Finally, as we mentioned, there’s also a need to get your medical practice to the top of results for people searching for your services. If a person is in sudden need of X-rays or has a medical issue that requires an urgent care provider, they will often turn to the search engines to locate an appropriate office near them.

This relates to both SEO – search engine optimization – and, more specifically, local search. Investing in these services can help to improve your ranking in search results for specific terms and phrases that those looking for you would use. Through a focus on SEO, you work to raise your rank and position in search engines, meaning that if someone enters “blood draw near me” in Google, your laboratory would ideally appear at the top of results or first in the local results map. Digital marketing is an important channel for medical businesses, so it’s vital to include SEO and online efforts as part of a robust promotional campaign.

Different Businesses, Different Approaches

Of course, the needs for your specific construction manufacturing business, medical practice, nonprofit or other organization will vary depending on your particular needs. At J. Fitzgerald Group, that’s where we thrive. We have worked with small, mid-sized and large businesses from coast to coast and around the world, developing and executing full-scale advertising and marketing campaigns and brand awareness efforts.

We can help you determine the best options for you and your business. Let’s discuss your goals and find out how to best achieve them. Start the conversation by giving us a call at 716.433.7688 today.