Who is looking at your marketing? Are you getting the leads you need from the people and companies you want to do business with or are you getting noticed, but never contacted by those who would be your best customers?

I recently talked to a business owner about his website and the analytics tracking on the site. He told me he had consistently received a good amount of traffic on the site. I probed a bit deeper – where was the traffic coming from? Did he have any indication of where people who had searched his site were located? What he found out was the biggest majority of site searches came from outside the United States – mostly from Eastern Europe and Central Asia. I asked an obvious question: was he doing business with anyone in these areas? The answer was what I expected: no!

That led to another question: are you getting any requests for information or quotes off of website inquiries? He told me he received RFQs consistently – possibly two or three every couple of weeks. That led to another question: are these the types of clients you are seeking? Are these RFQs sent from people or companies that make great customers? His answer: not really. They were people who wanted his services for the cheapest price they could get them. Some RFQs were converted into contracts, but not without some wrangling on price.

If you find yourself in a similar situation, you are not alone. Online marketing has been focused on aligning websites, in particular, with Google’s advice on getting found on their format. That’s great if you have a product or service that everyone needs and you are willing to sell on price alone. However, most brands are sold to a particular group of people that fit a specific demographic. That’s not everyone. Your target market may find you on a Google search, but what really sells them on a brand is its ability to convince them it can solve their problems.

That leads me to two more questions: how do you get the right people to notice you and respond to your marketing? The answer is you have to define your target market, seek them out with your marketing and give them an easy way to say yes to your brand. Waiting for customers to come to you is a very passive way to gain business. I would suggest a much more active marketing strategy that pursues customers instead of letting the customers pursue you. Even if you are doing most of your marketing electronically and depending upon people looking at your website, linking them to a landing page sourced from a marketing campaign is much more effective than just depending upon a Google search.

Pay attention to who is looking at your marketing. Not everyone makes a great customer. Create your marketing to strive after the people and companies who need your brand and with whom you want to do business.