While Amazon.com’s home page may be daunting, with now dozens of products and services to browse in addition to books – including music, exercise equipment, garden tools, furniture, clothes and even food – the more you target your intentions with various keywords, the more Amazon.com targets you.
The more I used keywords like “targeted,” “marketing,” “viral” or even “sales,” the more specific my results became. I got suggestions, lists, recommendations – you name it. I could read reviews before I made an investment in this book or that – and learned to read between the lines to find true value in what I purchased. I could even buy books used; a real plus, since I bought so many – and marked them up so thoroughly.
I could find books that no local bookstore would ever stock. (Web Accessibility: Web Standards and Regulatory Compliance, 3rd Edition Revised in Large Print, anyone?) And a library? Forget it; no librarian, no matter how thick her glasses might be, could recommend similar products so astutely – or so quickly – as Amazon.com.
Shopping on Amazon wasn’t just like hitting one bull’s eye; it was like hitting a bull’s eye each time I picked up a dart – or clicked the mouse. Each search was a new target; each target came more clearly into focus with each new, valuable and personalized recommendation. In 15 minutes, I could find just as many books that went to point – and order them to arrive within 24 to 48 hours.
Now, I’m no shill for Amazon.com – and I know that, technically-speaking, those other online bookstores probably have the same amount of books, even the same titles and authors – if I wanted to spend twice as much time, energy, blood, sweat, tears and money searching them out for myself. But why would I?
And, frankly, why should I?
Amazon.com did the work for me. And why? Because that’s how they were targeting me, as a shopper who wanted selection, ease of shopping and ordering, and fast delivery. And they hit the bull’s eye dead on. So before you start targeting others, know thyself (what you want and need) and pay attention to how others have made a direct hit on those priorities. It’s easy for us as marketers to get so bogged down in what we do that we forget others are doing it, too!
It’s kind of like when you catch your doctor smoking or see your physical trainer at a fast-food joint. You feel a sense of disappointment and maybe hypocrisy. But we are all human and just because we work in a chosen profession does not always mean we live and breathe our work. I’m suggesting that, for awhile at least, you do just that: live and breathe your work!
Here are some quick tips for staying on target here:
• Follow your clicks: When you’re using the Internet, don’t just click-through willy-nilly; follow that mouse. Where does it lead? How long does it take? Two clicks? Five clicks? Ten? Why do you click here instead of there? Now instead of then? What sites invite your business and why? We can learn a lot about how to use the Internet by paying attention to how WE use the Internet. And the best part is, you’re learning while you’re doing something you have to do anyway; kind of like being an apprentice – to yourself!
• Read your junk mail: Instead of trashing your junk mail, read it (except for the SPAM). How is it getting to you? Why are you receiving it? Follow the leads; be a postal detective. Is a local furniture store offering you a coupon because you shopped there recently? Are you getting a coupon for next summer’s cruise because of the cruise you took last summer? Have the local businesses keyed into the fact that you are new to the area and have no retail connections yet? Don’t just study the technology that got that junk mail to you in the first place; study the psychology behind the junk mail itself.
• Stay for the commercials: We often think that TV commercials are random; they aren’t. There’s a reason you see so many food commercials the closer it gets to the witching hour; certain companies want YOU to eat their foods for your next midnight snack! Or for tomorrow’s midnight snack. Ask yourself why the advertising pros created a certain commercial, why they bought air time on this program, at this particular time of day or night, and who do they think they’re attracting with their message. See if you can learn from their bull’s eyes AND their misses.
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