How to Market to Verticals
By: Mike D'Agostino
A good marketing campaign to a vertical can produce powerful results. Powerful in that you may not be prepared for the rapid influx of leads or exposure. If a horizontal marketing campaign is meant to be generic and provide safe results, then a vertical marketing campaign is meant to be specialized and generate results at a rapid pace.
What constitutes a good vertical marketing campaign? In order to answer that it is necessary to understand the mindset of the buyers within a particular vertical. In particular, what is the reason or need for a product or service? The next step is to be able to determine what the pain-points are for that vertical or market.
This may seem like an easy task, however a vertical marketing campaign which does not speak to the pain-points of the target market will not produce exceptional results, perhaps worse than a safer horizontal marketing campaign. Vendors also have the added hurdle of appearing as content experts while at the same time asking for money. Most people would probably say they trust information coming from someone they personally know or from a non-biased source, not someone who is asking for a purchase order.
The first step in crafting a successful marketing message to a particular vertical is to find someone who is an expert within that vertical. The closer you can get to an actual practitioner the better. A vertical expert will have spent the better part of their career within that vertical, and they understand what influences the purchasing decisions of others in the same role within that vertical. That person will be able to convey the pain-points very clearly, and can help a product or company come across as more of an unbiased source of information.
The second step is to align your campaign with a venue where the target vertical market is likely to look for information and education. Again, the more focused the venue the better. Remember you are targeting a specific vertical, and while there may be opportunities at venues which cover a range of topics, the more focused the venue on your particular vertical the better.
In the finance industry, the main pain-point is often regulatory compliance. Banks, credit unions, and financial institutions do not have a choice when it comes to complying with industry regulations and guidance - they have to do it. When products/services help alleviate issues which impact regulatory compliance, they get attention.
