Cold mailing has many perks that niche companies can benefit a lot from. Such was the case with Knights of Unity, a game dev studio with a narrow customer profile that needed more clients.
I want to show you how they got them, and how to build a proper, complete cold email campaign for a niche business.
Campaign fundamentals
A bit of backstory – Knights of Unity is a studio focused on the game development platform Unity, which they use to create software for games and simulators. In true knight fashion, they share knowledge acquired in their battles on their insightful blog.
They also add value by offering mentoring and training sessions in Unity development. Their name stands out among other companies in the market, and they are some of the best experts in Unity, so their brand isn’t just a far-fetched idea.
Why does it matter? You’ll see in the most important aspects of the Knight’s lead generation campaign:
Well-defined target
The main target were game development studios doing projects in Unity, and it underwent a few iterations. The campaign targeted only-Unity studios, but the target had to be extended to game development studios in general. It’s a niche target, so it had to be extended by using multiple location verticals – USA, Far East and Europe.
The reason for this target is that game studios often don’t have the resources to do Unity, it requires niche expertise. The Knights are an official partner of Unity so they were the ideal business partners for such studios.
Messaging and copywriting
They’re specific, niche service was easy to put into a Unique Value Proposition to use in cold emails. Apart from that, they add value in many other ways (blog, training sessions) and it was used in their emails to boost credibility.
Since they’re open to give or exchange know-how, there was a lower barrier for target customers to reply. If someone didn’t want to buy, they might’ve still wanted to ask about Unity and in turn open a conversation that could lead to a deal in the future.
Campaign results
In the end, all of the above helped the Knights achieve campaign performance like this:
Because the target was narrow, a lot of responses came early in the campaign – after the first introduction email, and in most cases it’s the follow up emails that generate most responses. That’s all fine and well, but you’re probably wondering about the key takeaways for niche businesses looking for new marketing channels.
Hacks to get more deals in niche IT markets
This case proves that there are simple, but powerful hacks to boost sales in a niche market:
1. Find a channel that lets you precisely target the best potential customers
Because it’s a niche solution, you need to focus your efforts where the biggest sales potential is.
2. Solution-market+brand fit
The core of your business has to be on point. Some businesses use the fact that they’re in a niche market to their benefit, and adopt a laid-back approach to customer service and satisfaction. But if you work hard to provide the biggest value possible for your clients like the Knights do, you’ll have no problem when other companies invade your niche. You’ll already be the go-to experts.
And regardless of your approach, a brand that fits your market is instant proof that you’re not an out-of-the-blue, random company, but that you know what you’re doing.
3. Industry-specific messaging
If you can’t talk the talk, you can’t walk the walk. At least that’s what potential clients will think when you approach them with messaging that’s completely irrelevant to what they do. Use industry lingo, research customer pain-points, and offer viable solutions.
4. Regularly prospect and reach out to clients following a well-defined process
Once you define a strategy and the necessary steps for it to work, regularly work on reaching your goals. Define metrics to keep track of how you’re progressing, and don’t move away from your strategy until it either starts working, or proves completely hopeless.
Big fish in a small pond
Niche solutions, like Unity development, require narrow targeting and efficient marketing channels that won’t drain the company’s budget while delivering random leads that don’t fit the customer profile. There’s no point in sorting through unqualified leads, when you can go after pre-qualified leads from te start.
The case of Knights of Unity only proves that cold emailing is a surefire way to get attention of a niche group of customers, and get new deals signed without cold calling, posting ads, going to networking events and all that other boring stuff. So, what are you waiting for? Start mailing!
