What is Vertical Marketing? Guide to Successful Customer-Focused Strategy

Recent survey showing that there are many successful start-ups who are making over $100k per customer annually.

What makes these start-ups special……………….?

They all have a common denominator- Vertical Marketing Strategy.

Most of the top-ranking companies that participated in the study use vertical marketing in their niches.

This study shows that vertical marketing is 2021’s holy-grail for profit maximization. In today’s competitive landscape, it’s difficult to earn profits if your business is perceived as not vertically oriented.

When you’re establishing your start-up, there’re obvious issues you’ll come across. Among them is choosing between horizontal or vertical marketing models.

Vertical marketing is niche-targeted while horizontal strategy focuses on everyone irrespective of their attributes.

Marketers that use Vertical Strategy are trusted by the market as experts and drive huge profits.

Today you are going to learn about Vertical Strategy and its magic in driving profits and establishing trusted brands.

Before we dive in right away, we need to learn about horizontal marketing strategy and why it matters.

Horizontal vs. Vertical Marketing Strategies

What is a Horizontal Marketing Strategy?

This approach focuses on a broader market rather than a specific niche market.

Take the example of Wal-Mart. It’s literally a jack of all trade and a master of none. The giant retailer runs on a mantra: “You need it? We got it all under one roof”.

Another example comes from the search engine industry. The Noodle search engine specializes in the education niche- colleges and high schools. On the other hand, Bing and Google search engines target all markets.

What are the disadvantages of a Horizontal marketing strategy?

• Marketers that pursue this model are seldom trusted as respected authorities in their niches.
• Can you trust Wal-Mart as an expert in the digital camera niche?

What is Vertical Marketing Strategy?

This methodology focuses on niche-markets.

Today’s customer is always looking for a trusted authority in their niche. Besides, they are willing to pay an extra buck for it.

The vertical approach is all about serving the needs of a specific demographic market.

Why Implement Vertical Strategy?

By now you already know the answer………

Vertical marketing strategy increases your credibility among customers in your niche. Besides, it increases the number of loyal customers which translates to booming profits.

You reduce costs of sales, shorten the sales cycle and maximize engagement by personalizing marketing content.

The emergence of big data contributes immensely to the growth of online targeted ads.

As a digital marketer, vertical-oriented content makes your readers in your niche lean forward.

This is because it sends three hypnotic signals:

• You value the niche
• You understand the industry
• The product is vertically positioned to address niche-specific needs

Why pursue Vertical Marketing methodology?

1. More and more start-ups are experiencing Success

Tesla is currently the most valuable automotive start-up in the world. Its market capitalization is more than Toyota, GM, and Ford combined. Tesla specializes in the electric vehicle niche market.

Tesla’s majority stockholder, Elon Musk, also owns another unicorn start-up called Space-X.

The start-up specializes in sending rockets and satellites into space at a fraction of the cost of competitors.

  2. The approach facilitates growth of brand equity

Coca Cola enjoys its humongous brand equity by dominating in the global soft drink niche.

  3. Effective sales messaging

Pursuing a vertical marketing approach means understanding the nitty-gritty of the niche on an expert-level.

It also means understanding the needs of the niche-market and earning their trust. Creating niche-targeted sales copies is a less costly and more effective way of guaranteed action.

  4. Instant brand recognition by the market

You earn significant traction in your niche by diverting all hands on deck to specific prospects.

You’re also perceived as a respected authority serving unique needs in your field by new prospects.

 5. Breeding pond for ground-breaking ideas

Specializing with niche-market provides you with unique insights into emerging trends of the market.

This gives you the opportunity to come up with innovative and targeted products or solutions.

Vertically-oriented brands are notoriously known for coming with groundbreaking inventions. Look at Netflix, a global giant in the video-on-demand streaming niche.

How do you get started with vertical Marketing Strategy?

Adopting a vertical marketing strategy sounds ‘easier said than done’. It should not be taken lightly.

You need to have the following:

• Speak niche language including terminologies
• In-depth knowledge of the industry
• Familiarity with compliance and regulatory problems

Having this in your arsenal can position your business strategically as an expert using personalized copies.

Are you thinking about implementing this methodology?

Keep in mind sales copies MUST be personalized for touch-points along the customer’s path to conversion.

Apply Vertical Strategy using the following:

1. An SEO-optimized blog that attracts and glues traffic
2. Seek guest blogging opportunities in your niche
3. Optimize your website- personalize content to communicate effectively with vertical market
4. Seek PPC tools for managing targeted online Ads profitably
5. Don’t forget industry-specific testimonials on your landing pages
6. Leverage social media resources by niche-specific forums, groups, and news aggregating sites
7. Work smarter with targeted email campaigns.

Give away point………….

If you try to market to every Tom, Dick, and Harry, you reach no one.

Vertical marketing tactic connects you to customers that matter most to your company.

Wrap Up

Here’s the tough truth and you already know. If you want different results, you need to take a different route.

Are you confused about which marketing strategy to pursue?

Worry no more!

Vertical Strategy is aligned with your needs in one condition.  Your objective is to communicate to the portion of the market that matters to you.

Use Vertical Strategy and niche expert will be your title and profits will follow you.

Digital marketers who want to conserve their hard-earned budget and increase awareness of their brands go vertical.

Don’t be a jack of all trade and a master of none. Choose a niche, be a trusted authority, and success will follow.

What marketing strategy are you currently using and how is it working for you?