Are you considering overhauling your marketing strategy and trying something new?
Start by asking yourself an important question – how well do you know your customers? Knowing where to start when answering this vital question can be challenging.
To help you do so, I’ve assembled this helpful checklist of the facts you must have to develop a complete understanding of your customers.
As you make your way through these questions, be sure to note any information lacking in your understanding of your customers. These are the areas you must improve upon to succeed in your marketing efforts.
• Who is your customer? Start this process slowly. Begin by identifying all the basic information you have about your customers.
This includes age, gender, location, income, and other obvious data points. What do they consume? What type of media do they gravitate towards? What do they value in a business? What is their motivation for shopping?
Look at how much your customer spends on your product or service and how much they have available. How does what they spend compare with the amount they spend on your competitors? Is your share increasing or decreasing?
What does your customer need? What solution are they searching for? Perhaps you can offer the solution to a problem they didn’t even know they had.
• What business are you in? Although this refers more to the category than the customer, it is important to ensure you’re looking at this question from the perspective of your customers and your business.
An answer such as ‘jewellery store’ isn’t enough. What type of jewellery does your business specialise in? Is there a focus on services, such as repairs and bespoke creation?
Many businesses work with industry definitions rather than customer definitions. If you want to know your customers, you need to understand what specific category they are interested in.
• Who are your major competitors? Maintaining a consistent understanding of who your competitors are will further strengthen your knowledge of your customers.
If you complete a list of competitors and include why you view them as rivals, you may uncover new avenues for increasing your customer base.
Furthermore, do you know as much about your competitors’ customers as you do about your own? Study this and work out exactly where you stand with them.
• What do they think of your product? Product testing is an overlooked factor in business development.
This shouldn’t just occur whenever a new product is launched. Your customers' perception of your products should be measured to some degree every year so that you keep your finger on the market's pulse.
Furthermore, what do they think of the price? When answering this question, don’t just consider the price your customer pays for the final product. Do they purchase products online with packaging and extra shipping costs?
Are they driving out of town, or even further, to make this purchase? All these factors add more to the perceived cost of your business.
• What do they think about your advertising? This is another of the ongoing performance metrics you must follow to ensure you know your customers.
What once amused or interested your customers in the past can become tedious and even annoying.
Ensure you know when your campaign needs updating from their perspective, not just yours.
• What do they think about your online presence? Are your customers even aware of your business online? Is your business being noticed?
Unless you thoroughly understand your customers’ habits online, chances are your marketing efforts will not reach them when and where they are most valuable.
With that in mind, what do they think of your social media presence? You can’t hide your personality on social media or delete what you have already shared.
The words you choose for a Tweet, the ideas you share on Facebook, the images you post on Pinterest, everything stays online – somewhere! Approach your online discussions in the same way you would any other form of communication and use the same tone and spirit.
• Why do you sell? The most important question comes last.
Why are you in the business you’re in? You need to be very clear on the answer to this question to know how to answer all the other questions.
I suggest you return to the top, revisit each point, and answer them truthfully. By reviewing each question, I am sure your thoughts will have changed or at least been modified because of this new perspective.
More reading
Content marketing strategies you can’t afford to ignore
What does your store layout say about your business?
The keys to word-of-mouth marketing: Part I
The keys to word-of-mouth marketing: Part II
Perception is the name of our game
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