Part 1: Conquest Marketing – Is it right for me?
You’ve probably heard of digital marketing and content marketing – but have you heard of conquest marketing? You’re probably familiar with it if you’ve ever purchased a vehicle from a dealership or been to a store that will “price match guarantee.” It isn’t easy, and in fact, it can be time-consuming, require dedication and research, and a solid plan to execute. You’ll want to understand your product and service offerings and the value they bring. In addition, this strategy requires knowing what your competition is doing at all times and being open to revising your marketing strategy as you go. Easy enough, right?
Conquest marketing is targeting any customer base outside of which with whom you normally do business with. You are either convincing someone to purchase your product or service directly from you, or asking a consumer to switch brands. For example, we helped one of our foodservice manufacturing clients use their data to develop customized and targeted offers for their operators (restaurants). Based on the submitted redemption forms, we noticed that operators were purchasing a competitors brand of barbecue sauce. From there, we helped develop a personalized offer for that restaurant, suggesting the operator purchase our client’s brand of sauce, plus add other relevant offers. Have we mentioned success is in the data?
Planning your conquest marketing strategy
Much like anything in marketing, conquest marketing requires extensive research and understanding a number of details about (1) your business, (2) your competition, and (3) your prospective buyer.
- Understand your organization and offerings
We know you understand your organization from a high level, but do you know what makes your product or service special? And, why should people purchase? It could be the value your team brings or the efficiencies your product provides consumers. Make sure you understand the “what” and the “why” before you proceed with a marketing strategy.
- Always know what your competition is doing – and do it better
It seems simple enough, but this is often overlooked. You’ll want to understand any competitor’s value proposition, product or service offering, and any promotions that may be offered to prospective buyers. You should be doing this anyway, but this will help you develop strategies to compete in or conquer your markets.
- Become the solution for your prospective buyers
You’ll want to show why someone should do business with you or buy something from you rather than from your competitors. If someone owns a product or service that you offer, focus your message on the benefits of working or continuing to work with your organization. If someone is purchasing from your competition, develop messaging that includes features and benefits that address a problem and your response to solve it – a solution your competitor may not offer and makes your product or service seem more valuable.
In addition, it’s important to tailor your strategy to where a prospect is in your funnel and not to forget about those in the post-purchase stage. You’ll want to remind your buyers why they should continue doing business with you!
We’ve seen conquest marketing work in a variety of strategies and industries that we serve. When starting a magazine of any sort, we look at lists and cull for what we call “multis.” Let’s say you want to start a magazine on Labrador retrievers (like Just Labs). One might suggest looking into lists relating to AKC registration, purchases from sporting good stores, subscriptions to The Retriever Journal, and membership to the Ruffed Grouse Society. With this data and spending time identifying multis, you should have a solid approach to tackling your prospective market. Don’t miss part two next week on strategies to execute conquest marketing!
Article written by:
McKenzie Decker
Marketing Manager
