Do you really know your customer & their buying behaviour?
When I’m consulting with clients and business owners, I spend a lot of time talking with them about their customers and it’s often surprising how little they understand them. I don’t mean that as a criticism, it’s normally because they’re so focused on running the business, they often lose sight of who they’re selling to. Who is in the market for your products and services? Why do they choose you or your competitors? Where do they go for information and advice? To be able to address their needs in your positioning, messaging, offers and tactics you need to understand their drivers both professionally and personally. Understanding these aspects holds the key to unlocking effective marketing results and should form the foundation of your marketing strategy.
How to choose the right channels
In his enlightening book, "Tough Selling for Tough Times," Murray Raphel shares an example of how he conducted a survey among customers of his own store. Surprisingly, he discovered that a staggering 75% of them listened to a single radio station out of the twelve available in the area. This revelation proved crucial, as it provided a previously unrealised insight for choosing the ideal advertising platform.
While consulting to a hygiene and cleaning products company that traditionally sold through distributors, we wanted an impactful channel to launch a new consumer product. We defined the audience as women who enjoyed keeping their homes clean and tidy, and I discovered that many in this segment watched Instagram for hints and tips on how to choose cleaning products. We chose a social influencer who fell into the category of ‘clean-fluencer’, and she positioned the new product range on her channel. The response was outstanding and put the new product squarely in the buyer’s feed. So, understanding your best customers and pinpointing where they come from, as well as the channels they engage in, enables better chances of success when targeting similar prospects.
Who is your ideal customer?
It is unlikely that you have the resources and budget to target all your possible customers, and salespeople don’t have the time to meet every possible prospect. So the most effective way to accomplish more focus is by identifying your ‘ideal customer profile’ or ICP (e.g. who are your most profitable and loyal customers or clients) and using them as a guide. Once you’ve identified them, set about getting to know them inside out.
Extensive product knowledge is valuable for your sales team, but in this highly competitive landscape what is more likely to win clients is intimate ‘people knowledge’. Understanding prospects inside out gives you deeper insight and enables you to design both online and offline experiences that feel easy and natural, so much so that the customer may start to think you’re observing them and anticipating their next move!
This kind of response is what businesses strive for, and it occurs when there is a genuine understanding of customers. So, invest energy in understanding all elements of their needs and expectations in relation to your product or service offerings.
How to learn more about your ideal customer
So, when you’re planning your next marketing activity or sales outreach, think about the following steps to understanding your customers:
Who is my ideal customer?
Do I have any friendly customers I can talk to about why they choose to do business with me? What can I learn from them?
Do I have any data that can help me establish how customers find me? Where do website visitors come from?
What information do my customers need to make a purchase decision?
What are the most common questions they’re likely to ask?
What offers and incentives can I offer and are they appealing or have value to the customer?
While working alongside one of my local clients, we’ve been establishing who visits the physical store vs who is more likely to shop online. Obviously, locals are likely to visit the store regularly and want to know ‘what’s new’ each week, but those who occasionally see social media posts or find the website via Google are more likely to be looking for something specific that they’ve searched for. Meeting the needs of these different audiences requires different messaging and tactics.
The takeaway
So, to enhance the success of your marketing and sales efforts, put in the time to really understand the needs of your customers, especially those who fit your ideal profile. As long as you’re ticking the boxes for them, you’re well on your way to gaining value for your time spent on effective marketing.