A gift of being an artist is the ability to express yourself in whatever ways are authentic to you. A gift of being in business is to be able to pivot as the needs/desires of your market and business change. A gift of being a marketer is to be able to make those pivots and forms of expression grow your bottom line.
Circa 1999, I was watching most likely VH1 when a video came on with a man wearing a long black coat with, what I call, that starfish-like haircut that was popular in the late ‘90s. The video had a blueish tint to it and was set at night (if i recall correctly). It looked a bit like Meatloaf’s “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)” video with somewhat of an alternative rock feel. Among all these quick observations, one detail I noticed especially struck me, “He kind of looks like Garth Brooks.”
I’m from rural Illinois, where it was common to hear Garth Brooks, Shania Twain and so on. “Friends in Low Places” was a family favorite.
This song was different…with a soft, sweet melody, sung in a gentle falsetto—maybe even kind of BabyFace-y, if you will, with a beautiful chorus that stuck with me for years afterward, “Heaven Knows 🎶🎶🎶 I’m head over heels and it shows…”
Turns out, it WAS in deed Garth Brooks who had recorded and filmed the song, “Lost In You,” experimenting with the persona of Chris Gaines. I since found out that it was written by Tommy Sims, Gordon Kennedy and Wayne Kirkpatrick, who’ve written songs for Eric Clapton, BabyFace, Blackstreet (Sims), and so many others. I loved it!
I was similarly surprised and impressed when I heard the song “Crazy” for the first time on the radio. I thought, “That sounds like Cee-Lo”, but it had a slightly different sound than his music I’d heard up to that point. It kind of reminded me of the Gorillaz song, “Clint Eastwood”, and had somewhat of an electronica feel. It drew me in. Sure enough, it was Cee-Lo–this time as part of Gnarls Barkley. Again, I was already a fan…became even more of a fan.
So, what does this have to do with your business?
What I appreciate about Garth Brooks and Cee-Lo’s pivots is their willingness to test out markets where they were interested in growing. And to do this they experimented with their style, sound, dress, design, music videos and so much more. I imagine they were already a fan of these genres, and already had fans in these genres. I appreciate them taking the time to figure out how to further express themselves through their art and venture into new markets in their business.
When you’re ready to grow into new markets—where you have a following and want to better serve and connect with those audiences, one of the easiest ways to do this is through your website…but not necessarily your main website. That can serve as your control in this experiment.
To test out a new market, it’s great to use a LANDING PAGE geared towards that audience you want to give more attention to.
You can experiment with tone, copy, design, video, typography and so much more that speaks to your audience, display your key offerings for your target demographic more prominently (or exclusively) and track what resonates and what doesn’t connect.
Landing pages are where your customer “lands” after they’ve found and clicked on your link, whether that’s via your email outreach, search engine ad campaign, social media push, affiliate campaign, etc. With offline campaigns, it would be a site you’ve created specifically for the viewers of that particular campaign. They are versions of your site that you’ve set up with a segment in mind.
With a landing page and an intention to build your firm’s reputation and grow your business in new markets, you can tailor your content to the ideal client of kindred spirits you’re aiming for.
So, you tell me? You know your work.
- What are you capable of as a designer, as a business owner?
- Where do you want to go?
- Is there a service you want to build your firm’s reputation for?
- How are you testing the market?
If you’d like help with this, book a call and we’ll help you re-position your content so that it caters to the market and niche you’re testing.
And, stay tuned! We’ll show you how to build out your content and automate your processes to further engage that market you’re targeting so that you can grow your sales in that market, in a coming post.
Leave a Reply