Not Many Customers

Some industrial products are sold to small but scattered market. These products usually can't support a large advertising budget. To be successful, a company must identify its prospects. Once they have been identified, the industrial company can either make a personal sales call or institute a direct marketing campaign.

Obtaining the names of prospect requires a slightly different strategy than that of most marketing communications. Usually a communications strategy tries to create customers interest in the product. To get names requires you only to get someone interested enough to send for more information. A realtor recently sent me a postcard offering instructions on how to make an extra $ 3,000 when selling a house. That was an effective tool for finding potential home sellers.

Once I was responsible for marketing industrial test equipment which had a small, scattered market. The most effective tool I developed for getting names was a short, three-paragraph letter simply explaining that the equipment was a thickness measurement device, listing the equipment's five ideal applications, and asking if the recipient would like to receive two published articles. The letter covered a third of a page. I experienced a sharp drop in response rate every time I added an extra paragraph to the letter.

Other tactics which work well for reaching a small, scattered target are card packs, press releases, and conventions.