Too often, marketers get so caught up in telling their story to customers. While that is important to make sure you get the word out, you have to make sure you don’t make a critical mistake. I, as a consumer, don’t care about you. I only care about me. I care about what makes me happy and makes my life better. And many times that doesn’t always match with what you want me to know about you. If you want my business, you have to find a unique way to connect with me.
So, how does a business ensure that the customers they want are hearing their message? One critical piece is making sure you understand who your audience is and what makes them tick. You need to have a pulse on what you target consumer likes, dislikes, what kind of lifestyle they live, and many other factors. This will allow you to make sure you are telling your audience what THEY want to hear and how you will make their lives better. As a full-time working mom with two young children who commutes almost two hours each day to work, the best way to get my attention is to tell me how you can add convenience to my life. Quick dinners that I can get ready in 20-30 minutes when I get home are my ‘bread and butter’ (no pun intended). I’ll pay more for convenience if the value is there. Value, to me, is allowing me extra time with my kids instead of in the kitchen. But, it’s important to know that message doesn’t work for all audiences. For example, if your product exudes an air of luxury and status, promoting that content to someone who is more interested in discounts and low-price will fall on deaf ears.
When taking this all into account, you can begin to re-evaluate your marketing and promotional strategy to be much more specific and personal. If you are promoting the right content, but to the wrong audience, you’ll get nowhere fast. If you promote the wrong content to the right audience, nowhere again. It’s the art and science of being able to craft a customized message to an audience who will care about what you have to say – that’s when you will get better, faster. At this point, you’re probably thinking one of the following – “How am I supposed to get this data?” “How much will it cost me?” “There is no way I’ll be able to afford it.” The truth is, you’re actually sitting on a treasure trove of information about your customers with your CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system that can be used to help you identify insights about your customers. You can also use that to help find MORE customers like the ones you already have. What if there was a technology that could match your customer data to online activities and find your customers while they are on the internet? (Hint: There is!) You could also collect data based on those online activities to build out a profile of your customers to figure out the appropriate incentive to get the message right. Then when you do send the message out, you know you’re telling people something that they want to hear versus shouting at them with what you want them to know.
Seems like a simple concept right? Unfortunately, it’s not always thought through. Think about all of the times you hear a car dealer promoting a ‘low payment’ message. And then combine that with what I’ve told you about me. I’m less concerned with the price and more interested in the attributes of the car – Is it big enough for my family? What are the safety features? Can I get a car seat in and out easy? Telling me about the price won’t sway my decision if those other needs aren’t met. Making sure you tell me what I want to hear is the message that is going to help me remember your name. And why I want to buy from you over anyone else.
Everything I’ve discussed here is easily attainable, you just have to know where to look and how to ask the right questions. Contact Advance Ohio today for more information!
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