With today's online world being so noisy and full of distractions, you might think that "the louder the message, the better the results" is the secret to a successful marketing campaign. If you can share your message far and wide, then you might think you'll see better results with your marketing.
But what if it was possible to see a higher conversion from prospects to buyers using a smaller target audience?
The concept of micro-marketing is one that I think we'll start to see more and more, as business owners refocus their attention on the things that really matter with their messaging: being direct while engaging in a personal conversation or connection with an interested prospect rather than trying to be the loudest marketer in the room.
In this blog post, I'll explain the key differences between micro-marketing and macro-marketing, and we'll look at some examples of how micro-marketing can be used to promote your business so you can see greater results from a smaller segment of prospects who are more likely to take action and convert.
What's the difference between macro-marketing and micro-marketing?
Before we go any further, let's quickly differentiate between micro-marketing and macro-marketing.
Both types of marketing can be beneficial to business owners, and it's important to decide which type will work best for your specific business and during what circumstances you may want to choose one type over the other.
In the simplest of terms, micro-marketing refers the process of targeting a particular group of people with a specific message, while macro-marketing is the process of targeting a large group of people with a general message.
The way I think about the difference between these two concepts is this: micro-marketing is personally communicating with contacts whereas macro-marketing focuses on using mass-distribution techniques to talk to your subscribers like "email blasts" and generalized communication strategies.
Macro-marketing is a great choice if your goal is to create more awareness and brand visibility because this approach will help you reach a wider audience. But it can also be very expensive and it's difficult to track the results. You may also find it difficult to stand out in a sea of other similar brands who are all using the same style of marketing.
It may take longer to see results from a micro-marketing campaign, but the results you do see will be more targeted and therefore likely to convert at a higher rate. The results of your micro-marketing campaigns will have a direct correlation between your marketing efforts and any increase in leads or sales.
A quick example of Micro-Marketing vs. Macro-Marketing
Let's say, for example, that you own an online store that sells eco-friendly home goods. You could use macro-marketing to target everyone in the world who is interested in sustainability and living a green lifestyle. But what if you want to specifically target people who are interested in eco-friendly home goods? In this case, you would use micro-marketing to target this smaller group of people with your message.
The key difference here is that with micro-marketing, you're able to get very specific with your target audience and craft a message that is tailored to them that also showcases your products.
Why is Macro-Marketing Beneficial to Business Owners?
Here's a few reasons to incorporate macro-marketing into your overall marketing plan:
- It allows you to reach a wider audience with your message.
- It's a great way to build brand awareness and create visibility.
- It's an easy, effective way to test new messaging and content ideas.
Macro-Marketing with Social Media
Let's take a look at how you can use social media to reach a wider audience with your message.
There are two main ways to do this using the macro-marketing approach: using paid advertising on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter or by using organic methods to grow your social media following and engagement.
Regardless of which social macro-marketing approach you use, remember to do your research so you can target the right audience, and create content that is interesting and engaging.
Paid Advertising on Social Media
Paid advertising is a great way to reach a larger audience with your message quickly. The main benefit of using paid advertising is that you can target specific groups of people with particular interest with your ads while still getting in front of different people who are new to your brand.
For example, let's say you want to promote a new product to people who are interested in sustainability. With paid advertising, you can target your ads to people who have engaged with similar content in the past, who are interested in green living, or who live in a certain area.
But if you're looking to reach a large group of people quickly, and you have a modest budget to get started with ads (I start with $20/day), paid advertising is a great option.
Organic Growth on Social Media
Organic growth is the process of growing your social media following and engagement without paying for ads. This can be done by creating great content, interacting with your audience, and using hashtags.
The main benefit of organic growth is that it's free. But it can take a lot of time and effort to grow your social media following organically.
For example, let's say you want to use Instagram to reach a wider audience. You would need to post great content regularly, interact with other users, and use hashtags to get your content in front of new people.
Using hashtags is a great way to expand the reach of your content through social media, and when it's done correctly, it can help you grow quickly, organically. If you're patient and consistent with your content, you will eventually start to see an increase in your social media engagement and reach.
Going back to our sustainable home goods example, you could use hashtags like #sustainability, #ecofriendly, #savetheplanet, or #zerowaste to reach people who are interested in those topics. When you share content that's relevant and valuable to the people following these hashtags, you'll give them fresh new content and an opportunity to follow you for more content on the topics they already love!
Macro-Marketing with Email Marketing
Email marketing is another great way to connect your audience with your content in a way that will keep you top of mind for your subscribers.
Nurture Sequences can be a form of Macro-Marketing because this type of email series is designed to send emails to subscribers on a regular basis, regardless of their specific interests or preferences.
The biggest challenge I hear from business owners is that they don't have time to write emails every week to their subscribers. But my guess is that everyone has more content to share than they realize.
One macro-marketing solution is to build a Long Term Nurture Campaign. Go through your past email content and social media posts and pull out the content that got high engagement. Restructure the content into an email campaign that has 52 emails sending 1 per week.
Send all of your subscribers through this email automation once they've been on your email list for anywhere from 1-4 weeks. Now they'll receive an email from you each week for an entire year without you having to worry about creating new content to share with them.
When you use this macro-marketing email approach, you can also track your results so that you can see how your specific emails are performing over time. This data can help you improve your email marketing strategy once you begin to notice patterns emerging based on the content with which your audience is interacting.
Why is Micro-Marketing Beneficial to Business Owners?
There are a few key reasons why micro-marketing is beneficial to business owners:
- It allows for more personal communication with your potential customers.
- It allows you to focus on a warmer audience, which can lead to higher conversions.
- It can be more cost effective than traditional macro-marketing techniques.
Micro-Marketing with Social Media
For example, let's say you own a coaching business that helps parents overcome challenges that come with raising children.
This parenting coach might use micro-marketing in their business by targeting parents who are interested in positive reinforcement techniques for raising their children.
The coach could find these parents by searching for relevant hashtags on social media, or by joining relevant online communities and forums.
Once they've found their target audience, they can start engaging with them in a personal and meaningful way by sharing images, stories, and tips on how parents can use positive reinforcement techniques with their children.
If the coach has done their research well, their content will stick out to the parents they were thinking about when they created it, and the probability of them engaging with the content is much higher.
Once the coach has made a connection through this micro-marketing tactic, they can take things one step further and personally reach out to the parents who they've noticed engaging, liking, commenting on their posts regularly.
Their interaction indicates a higher level of interest, and they may appreciate the coach reaching out through email or DMs offering specific resources that may be helpful on that topic.
Micro-Marketing with Email Marketing
Now let's look at an example of how you could use micro-marketing through your email marketing.
Let's say that you're reviewing the email metrics from the first several emails in your promo campaign, and you compile a short list of those who opened multiple emails but didn't purchase or enroll in your current program.
You know these subscribers are likely more interested in your offer, but they aren't convinced enough by your email campaigns to purchase or enroll yet.
Send them a personalized email (from your actual inbox) asking if there's anything you can do to help them make a decision or overcome any objections they may have. This type of micro-marketing allows you to get hyper-focused on a smaller, but warmer group of prospects, which can lead to higher conversions.
This type of micro-marketing is extremely beneficial when you're promoting high-ticket offerings, mastermind groups and intimate group programs because it shows the prospect that you are willing to give your undivided attention.
So, which is better? Micro-marketing or macro-marketing?
Macro-marketing and micro-marketing are two different but important strategies to use in your business. Deciding which of these two marketing approaches will be better for you depends heavily on your short and long term business goals.
Macro-marketing can be an effective strategy to reach a big audience with your message if you're at a point in business where you want to expand visibility and awareness about your business and brand.
If you're looking to connect with your target audience on a deeper level and convert them into buyers during a launch or promotional time period, micro-marketing may be the best approach for you to see higher conversions from warm, engaged prospects who have shown interest in your offering but haven't made a buying decision yet.
Test out different varieties of these marketing tactics and see what works best for your business. There's no one-size-fits-all answer when it comes to marketing, so the best approach is the one that gets you the results you want.
While both macro and micro marketing have their benefits, using them together can be especially powerful. When you combine the broad reach of macro-marketing with the personal connection of micro-marketing, you'll start seeing higher conversions from a more targeted (and maybe smaller) group of people who are ready to work with you.
Still not sure which type of marketing best suits your business needs? Book a discovery call today for personalized expertise!
