Figuring out where to start with your equestrian marketing can be like finding a needle in a haystack. You are told all the channels and strategies you should implement to be successful, but where do you even start? Creating a solid platform for your marketing efforts is the key to ensuring that your marketing is successful and future-proof.
1. Have a strategy
A marketing strategy helps you define where you are at now, where you want to be, and how you will get there. A great equestrian marketing strategy should include your:
- Current marketing efforts
- Current performance
- Target audience
- Goals/targets
- Objectives to achieve your goals
- Platforms to use to achive your objectives
Your marketing strategy is your personal marketing guide for the following year. It should be reviewed annually so you can see which equestrian marketing efforts are working and which are not.
2. The most important part of developing a strategy is defining your target audience.
The biggest mistake equestrian business owners make is trying to market to anyone who owns a horse. The issue with trying to market to everyone is that you really end up engaging with no one. Customers need to feel that your product or service is speaking to them on a personal level.
Once you have defined your product or service and your ideal customer, you can understand their needs. This will allow you to craft specific messages that identify with your target audience. It’s fine to have more than one target audience in your equestrian marketing strategy, but each target market should have a specific message.
A great way to narrow this down further is to create a target persona. Your target persona is your ideal customer; they embody your lead generation strategy. Your target persona goes beyond demographics and focuses on specific hobbies, buyer behaviour and consumer needs. It’s also great to give them a name and a face.
Warning: Marketing to the wrong audience will affect your whole strategy
We have seen strategies that target the wrong audience for the business/product. Even though the strategy itself was well written, the wrong target audience led to the selection of inappropriate platforms and the development of inappropriate messaging, ultimately leaving the product’s intended audience unattained.
3. Your strategy will define which platforms you should use to market your equestrian business to your target audience.
A combined approach means that all the platforms should work in harmony to promote the same messaging. You should never focus on a single platform, which could limit your audience. Ensure you use a combination of social media, search advertising, email, and website marketing as defined by your strategy.
In the equestrian industry, common social media platforms include Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. These platforms are used organically and also for paid advertising. Our Email Marketing Platform of choice is Klaviyo, for its ease of use and high integration with the website platforms we use.