Marketing Strategies: Know Your Customer

Do you know your customer? ….

I mean, Do you really know your customer?

The more you know your customer, the more successful you will be – regardless of the kind of business you are running.

What drives them? What inspires and motivates them? What is it that you offer through your company that will meet your customers need?

When a client comes to me for consultation on growing their business through ‘marketing’ – this is where our conversation always begins. I always want to know how well you know your customer.  The better you know your customer, the better you will be able to market to them; to reach them; to ‘connect to’ and ‘relate with’ your customer. If you do not know what drives or inspires them, how will you know what messages to communicate through your marketing, to get their attention?

It always surprises me how little most business owners know about business.

Most people simply have a dream. However, a dream without a plan is nothing more than a wish.

If you want your business to be successful, you must take this industry seriously.  I do not recommend going back to school, but I do recommend going to a book store or a library. Educate yourself. Become as knowledgeable about your field as possible. Know all that you can know about what it is that you do – not just from an experienced point of view. Hands on experience is always an enhancement to any form of knowledge you’ve obtained. It’s one thing to read about fixing cars to gain knowledge, but to actually be under the hood fixing one, is an entirely different level of knowledge.

However, having read about the car, will blend with your experience of fixing the car – giving you an advantage over other Car Mechanics.

This bit of advice applies to whatever you do too.

You may think you know your customer because you’ve been dealing with them for years; but if you’re not getting the kinds of results you are after, perhaps you do not know your customer as well as you may think. Study your industry – study people too.

What makes people want to buy the things that they buy?

What drives people ?

Are your wheels spinning yet??

Asking these kinds of good questions, are a great exercise to figure out how to reach your financial goals. If you’re seeking to get a certain amount of sales each week, then you will want to focus in on customers. What do you have to sell that can produce consistent income for you? How can you get that product or service in front of the people who want it? The moment you start to ask these questions, you will start to see the answers all around you; especially today.

There are tons of books, articles, and blogs written, as well as videos that have been produced which will teach you more about your market; the more you know about your industry, the more you’ll understand what customers of your industry are looking for. You can always decide on if you want to be a company that goes after the whole market; or segments of the market – which often is great for small businesses who only need to capture a slice of the pie to stay in business.

If you’re a financial institution, you’ll need to know your customer on an entirely different level. To ensure that your customers are not using you to illegally launder money, and to comply with US Laws, you’ll need your customers to fill out forms which contain important information; just in case. Most of my clients however do not operate these kinds of businesses – but this is a great strategy to use while you are marketing.

Gather information about the people you want to sell to.

If you’d like more detailed information on what you can do to start learning more about the people you are hoping will buy from you, Contact me today for a Consultation; in person or over the internet – Thanks for stopping by; be sure to check out other related articles and great small business ideas!

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