Finding the right customer
Who are my most likely customers and what do they really want?
The fact is, you can’t market to everyone – it’s too expensive for one thing. But even if you had the budget of a Coca-Cola or Nike, trying to market to every woman and her dog wouldn’t be very smart either. A busload of middle-aged Japanese men could decide to make a detour to Derry to check out your fantastic new hair salon - but it’s not very likely.
The only way to make sure you get the best possible return from the marketing and advertising that you do is to decide who you should target and, in turn, what they really want from you. By being more specific with the people you market to (and therefore what you say to them) you save wasted expense and have a much stronger, better targeted, and more effective message.
The best place to start is with the question; why would someone buy from you? In answering that question, you have to focus on the things that make your business different from the rest – the things that make you unique. That list could include features like your location, the products you sell, the services you provide or even how you go about providing them.
The next step is to take that list and decide who is most likely to benefit from each of these unique points. For example, if the location of your corner shop makes you unique then the people most likely to benefit are those who live or work near by.
Once you start identifying how your uniqueness can benefit certain groups you can also start putting those groups into order – from most likely to least likely. As a beauty salon you might stock an exclusive range of hair care products that make you unique. Of course, you can sell these products to both men and women but you’ll be able to guess which of the two is more likely. Because you have limited resources in terms of money, time and (most importantly) customer attention, you need to prioritise.
Now you know who your most likely customers are, the next stage is to do some homework. To create a business that appeals to them directly and specifically, you’ll need to know what they really want when they buy products or services like yours.
Continuing the salon example, customers might be looking for a nice hairstyle or a new colour? But it could be they simply want to feel better coming out than they did going in. If that’s the case, you’re no longer selling a new hairstyle or even beauty – you’re selling a luxury experience.
Of course, there’re also a few practical points about your potential customers that you’ll want to know too. What newspaper do they read (helping you place your advertising)? What shops do they shop in (creating ideas for joint promotions)? Does price matter and if so, how much (helping you maximise your returns)? Do they use the Internet? Do they like getting text messages? Do the like special offers and promotions?
Anything you can find out about your potential customers can help make a difference, but you need to keep your focus on your most likely customers. An ad in the paper designed to appeal to young affluent women is not likely to appeal to middle-aged men in the same way.
Yes, that does mean that you’re not likely to attract as many middle-aged men but that’s a lot better than a more general, untargeted ad that attracts no one at all.
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This article was originally published in the Derry News, August 30th, 2007
The fact is, you can’t market to everyone – it’s too expensive for one thing. But even if you had the budget of a Coca-Cola or Nike, trying to market to every woman and her dog wouldn’t be very smart either. A busload of middle-aged Japanese men could decide to make a detour to Derry to check out your fantastic new hair salon - but it’s not very likely.
The only way to make sure you get the best possible return from the marketing and advertising that you do is to decide who you should target and, in turn, what they really want from you. By being more specific with the people you market to (and therefore what you say to them) you save wasted expense and have a much stronger, better targeted, and more effective message.
The best place to start is with the question; why would someone buy from you? In answering that question, you have to focus on the things that make your business different from the rest – the things that make you unique. That list could include features like your location, the products you sell, the services you provide or even how you go about providing them.
The next step is to take that list and decide who is most likely to benefit from each of these unique points. For example, if the location of your corner shop makes you unique then the people most likely to benefit are those who live or work near by.
Once you start identifying how your uniqueness can benefit certain groups you can also start putting those groups into order – from most likely to least likely. As a beauty salon you might stock an exclusive range of hair care products that make you unique. Of course, you can sell these products to both men and women but you’ll be able to guess which of the two is more likely. Because you have limited resources in terms of money, time and (most importantly) customer attention, you need to prioritise.
Now you know who your most likely customers are, the next stage is to do some homework. To create a business that appeals to them directly and specifically, you’ll need to know what they really want when they buy products or services like yours.
Continuing the salon example, customers might be looking for a nice hairstyle or a new colour? But it could be they simply want to feel better coming out than they did going in. If that’s the case, you’re no longer selling a new hairstyle or even beauty – you’re selling a luxury experience.
Of course, there’re also a few practical points about your potential customers that you’ll want to know too. What newspaper do they read (helping you place your advertising)? What shops do they shop in (creating ideas for joint promotions)? Does price matter and if so, how much (helping you maximise your returns)? Do they use the Internet? Do they like getting text messages? Do the like special offers and promotions?
Anything you can find out about your potential customers can help make a difference, but you need to keep your focus on your most likely customers. An ad in the paper designed to appeal to young affluent women is not likely to appeal to middle-aged men in the same way.
Yes, that does mean that you’re not likely to attract as many middle-aged men but that’s a lot better than a more general, untargeted ad that attracts no one at all.
---
This article was originally published in the Derry News, August 30th, 2007
posted by Mark at Really Practical Marketing at 11:15 AM
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