Is it me you're looking for...
I’ll give you a pound of you didn’t sing that title! Got to love a bit of Lionel Richie!
I’ve recently been doing some work with a client on customer avatars and they just make me think of that song; they also made me think about important it is to recognise and understand your ideal customers for many reasons but these are my top ones:
WHERE & HOW - there’s the obvious, which is knowing how and where to reach them. If you’re aiming at the over 65 market realistically Facebook is not your best medium; if you’re aiming at the twenty somethings print media won’t find them... you get the idea, knowing who they are helps you better understand where they will be so you can talk to them about what you offer.
THAT’S ME - if you’re really getting into detail on these customers then you’ll start to understand their motivations for purchase and that makes honing your marketing message easier. The ultimate aim with marketing is to create the ‘thats me’ feeling for a potential customer and knowing what their questions are, their fears are, their dreams are can really help get that right.
OMG MOMENT - it allows you to create the wow... that wow factor that turns an initial conversation into a long term relationship is important, especially in small business, so you need to work out what will wow them- is it exceptional customer service, beautiful packaging, follow up and aftercare... if you know them you’ll know what they need.
KEEP TALKING - it allows you understand how to communicate with them in a way that encourages the emotion you need to build the relationship. As an example, if you have a business that sells an impulse purchase that is fun and whimsical you can use a fun, friendly tone of voice that encourage interaction and like; conversely, if you sell a product that solves a problem you are going to want to talk with more authority and establish trust/efficacy.
IT’S NOT ME, IT’S YOU - they are not - and I can’t stress this enough- they are not you. What you like, what you enjoy, what you want is not the same as what you like, want and enjoy. It’s very easy to bring our own preferences and biases into business it won’t help you achieve success. So be careful to separate the ‘I like’ from the ‘this is right for my customer’.
Those are my thoughts on the importance of finding exactly who you’re looking for so you can say “Hello” effectively.