Five questions you should know before targeting a customer
HOW DO YOU GET IN FRONT OF YOUR KEY CUSTOMERS?
YOU MEET THEM WHERE THEY ARE.
Please do not take that literally and show up at their house in the morning with a cup of coffee and a doughnut (we want relationships, not restraining orders).
But please do take some of my pointers and consider how you well you’ve been targeting your customers. In its most basic form, there are five questions you can ask yourself to help you figure out who your customers really are, what they’re like, how and when they make decisions - and why.
FIVE QUESTIONS YOU SHOULD KNOW BEFORE TARGETING A NEW CUSTOMER
The purpose behind meeting your customers where they are is to learn their story, not the story you make up about them in order to fulfill a strategy stuffed with assumptions rather than facts.
BEFORE YOU CAN FULLY UNDERSTAND WHO YOUR CUSTOMERS ARE, YOU FIRST NEED TO ANSWER FOUR QUESTIONS
Who are they?
Here’s where you dig deep into your analytics and define demographics and affinities, such as: age, gender, median household income, occupation, likes, dislikes, etc.
What do they shop for?
You want to know if a customer would even be interested in what you’re trying to sell. Let’s play a little make-believe. Pretend you’re a local, handcrafted, soy-based, vegan candle maker. Are you going to seek out the Walmart bargain-bin shopper, or will you get in front of someone who has an affinity for local artisans and farmers markets? How do you know for sure the Walmart shopper isn’t interested? Perhaps they splurge on items such as the ones you provide, and perhaps the farmers market enthusiast is allergic to scented anything. Point is: Don’t assume anything. Research.
How do they shop?
If they’re looking for local, handcrafted, soy-based, vegan candles, will they ask a friend in person for a recommendation, research online, go directly to Facebook?
Find out how these customers shop, then create a ton of content that educates them on what you do, how you do it, why, where, etc. Most importantly, don’t make your customers find you. You must find them or someone else will (aka, your competitors).
When and where do they shop?
It doesn’t make a lot of sense to send shoppers your well-crafted newsletter at 3 p.m. every Tuesday if they’re not opening promotional emails until 9 p.m. on Thursday. Once you know when they shop, you can start persuading them with a sale, an exclusive offer, a discount, a beautifully designed IG post, etc. Again, it’s not about them finding you. You should already be in their minds in the right place and at the right time.
THE FOURTH AND MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION TO ASK IS, “WHY DO THEY SHOP?”
Behind everything we buy, there’s an emotion. Answering the “why” behind your customers’ shopping desires fulfills an emotional need and want inside of them.
The “why” should answer lots of potential questions a customer might have about your product or service, such as:
“Why is this product right for me?”
“How will it make my life better, easier?”
“How will it solve a problem for me?”
“What am I supposed to feel?”
“Will I want to share it with friends, neighbors and colleagues?”
“How is it a part of my story?”
This last bullet: “How is it a part of my story?” is perhaps the most potent ammo you have when it comes to developing emotive content.
Let’s play make-believe again. You’re crushing it as a local, soy-based, vegan candle-maker and people are getting ready to hygge-up for Fall. As a candle-maker, you know hygge enthusiasts will be hot on the candle scene about the same time PSLs return to the Starbucks counter.
Research what hygge is, interview someone who practices hygge, talk to store owners who specialize in it. Heck, go to Norway. The point is: this is where you make your candles an important moment in a person’s journey.
In addition, by answering who, what, when, where, why and how, you’ll have so many content ideas that your best-selling scented candle, “Ye Olde Oxford Book Store,” will be on back-order until next year.
GETTING STARTED
Content creation is a lot of work. Simply documenting who, what, when, where, why and how can take a lot of time and resources away from getting your other work done (like actually making candles - or whatever you do).
Fortunately, there are lots of content experts out there (like me) who can help you find your words and become a part of your customers’ journeys.