How do you educate your market/be visible - when they may not be looking for a tool like your's?

Our tool (recruiterbox) helps startups and small companies manage their hiring in one place. They can hire faster and make better decisions, replacing manual processes of email and excel. But our market (companies under 200 employees) are not necessarily looking for such a tool. We are a "pre-enterprise" application to help folks at an affordable cost.

Bottom Line - we are doing online marketing, getting some good traction, but how do we effectively reach more companies that are fragmented across industries and geos?

Thanks!
Raj

Advertising buys you eyeballs but educating earns you loyalty. If you can establish yourself as a go-to place to learn about hiring issues for small businesses, you will set yourself up as an authority in your space. Your prospects may not be looking for a tool specifically but they do have the problems that you solve and they are looking for solutions. It then becomes the obvious choice to use your services. You have a great start on this already with your blog. Now take it up a notch. Here are some ways to do it:

• Ask for an email address to send them a hiring plan outline or a whitepaper on how to stay legal.
• Try podcasting or videocasting.
• Start distributing longer form content in articles. Transparency alert: my company provides this service
• Make your educational materials more prominent on your website.

You know your space, don't be afraid to share knowledge. It will only establish you as an expert and make your services more desirable.