Sensitive industries are businesses that offer products and/or services that are either unique, taboo or are in a space that is often not openly communicated. Examples of sensitive industries include tobacco, gambling, mental health, etc. Marketers might often struggle with their marketing strategy as theirs may need to take a stronger approach as opposed to those that market for general industries.
Target Your Market
While many businesses have a diverse target audience, a sensitive industry likely has a sensitive industry. For example, if a business’s products and/or services are strictly sold to those above the age of 18, targeting a younger audience isn’t going to be valuable. Sensitive industries need to ensure that efforts aren’t going to waste by targeting a broad and diverse audience. Even the best marketing strategies won’t result in a successful outcome. Dedicating time to finding your target will help locate the right market and guarantee that the marketing strategy in place is presented to the right consumers.
Customer Perspective & Product Education
After conducting research to find the right target audience, marketers will need to have a solid understanding of the customer’s perspective. Messaging efforts should benefit the target audience by providing them with content that provides insight into the business’s products and/or services. To illustrate, Breazy, an e-commerce vaping site provides educational blog content ranging from vape news, reviews and “how-tos”. This adds value to prospects and current customers.
When creating a plan, marketers should determine what consumers may want to know about the brand that they don’t already. By marketers putting themselves into the audience’s perspective, creating the right content and message for your audience will be effective.
Honesty
Being honest should always be a practice every business takes part in. For sensitive industries specifically, striving for honesty is crucial for success. Each message that is pushed out to the public should accurately depict what a business represents as a brand. Being honest and authentic also means being open about both positive and negative messages.
As transparency becomes more of a necessity, both sensitive and general industries need to address all aspects of their business rather than be silent about negative information. For instance, if a business collects customer data without communicating that to the customer, this is portrayed as deceptive and can have a negative impact on your business. Selective transparency is impossible to maintain if information gets released customers will feel wronged and misinformed.
Think Outside of the Box
As a sensitive industry, traditional marketing strategies may not always be successful for your business. This is an opportunity to think outside of the box by considering other mediums and trying new tactics.
Ultimately, marketers in sensitive industries need to be careful with delivery. It’s crucial to take extra time to ensure messages throughout content can’t be misconstrued. Once a marketing strategy is cautiously planned out, creativity will come naturally.
About the Author:
Katherine White writes articles for businesses that want to explore different marketing strategies. Currently, she is a Digital PR Strategist for Inseev Interactive who leads strategy for brands like Day One Credit. Her educational background in Public Relations helps her tackle topics regarding strategy, branding and messaging.
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