Marketing Strategy: Your Ideal Customer
Are you spending a lot of time and money attracting the wrong sort of customer to your business?
Often when we start a business we have a clear idea as to the type of customer we want.
However as we grow we start to compromise, offer discounts, take on clients who seem to place little value on the service we provide. Soon we find ourselves working exceptionally hard on a treadmill of endless customer acquisition, increasing promotional costs and diminishing returns.
But there is a better way! At ClientEdge, we recommend clients take a step back and develop a profile of their “ideal” customer – then build an offer targeted at the specific needs of the ideal customer.
This process is simple to implement – but very powerful – it can also fundamentally change the way you do business!
Step 1 - What do you want your ideal customer to be like?
Develop a profile of the characteristics of your ideal customer based on your own experience.
What are they like to deal with?
What traits do they have?
What are their likely drivers?
What are their needs?
What challenges do they face?
How do they behave?
What are their buying patterns?
When do they buy?
Where are they located?
What is their age, sex, marital status, and occupation?
Where or how are they employed?
What is their life like at work and home?
Develop a picture of your ideal customer – compare it to your existing customer base – are there any gaps? Do you have too many customers who simply are not your ideal customer? Ask what needs to change to make them an ideal customer?
It is only when you know what you ideal customer looks like that you can go out and look for them!
Step 2 - Are you walking over acres of diamonds and don’t even know it?
The next step towards building a profile of your ideal customer; is to review your existing client base. Who are your top ten or twenty customers? What do they have in common?
Importantly think about those customers you or your team enjoys dealing with, and ask why?
What differentiates them from all your other clients?
Don’t waste time chasing new customers until you understand the reasons why your existing good customers do business with you.
If you can’t find the answers, ask your customers – you may be surprised at their response!
It is too easy to be caught on the treadmill of endless customer acquisition and ignore the diamonds right under your feet!
Step 3 - Every business targets a niche – even if they don’t know it!
It is a fallacy to say “everyone is a potential customer of my business” – every business targets customers or should target customers, with a particular profile. This could include:
Customers of a particular age
Customers of a particular gender
Disposable income
Have similar likes and dislikes
Located in certain geographic areas
A particular industry or field
Facing particular problems or challenges
Hold similar values
Have interests that are similar
Of a particular personality type
Price driven
Quality focused
Have certain service expectations
The profile of the ideal customer will change depending on the business – but the key is to first spend the time to learn what the characteristics are.
Step 4 – Ask what sort of service would my ideal customers expect me to provide?
Having developed a profile of your ideal customer, the next step is to ask…
Based on what we know about our ideal customer what sort of service would they expect us to provide?
What would be the elements most critical to the ideal customer?
How could each customer service touch point be improved to appeal to our ideal customer?
What would our advertising and promotional material need to look like and say to appeal to the ideal customer?
What would our website need to look like? Function?
What behaviours would they expect us to demonstrate?
The key is to start looking at your business through the eyes of your customer – this is when the magic starts to happen!
Step 5 – Communication: are you focussed on your customer needs, or your products and services?
Review your advertising, your website and promotional material – which world are you talking about? Your customer’s world, their needs and problems? Or, like most businesses are you focussed on your world, your product and services?
Customers want to know, “what’s in it for me” - When they buy, they looking for what the product or service can do for them – the benefits they can gain, the problems they can solve or the risks they can avoid.
The actual product or service is simply a means to an end, yet most advertising, websites and promotional material we review talks more about the business and the product features than how it can help the customer.
Hint: When writing copy or indeed selling, talk 30% about your product or service and 70% about how your customers life/world will be enhanced when they engage with your business or use your product.
Most businesses have this ratio in reverse. A simple shift in focus can deliver some remarkable results.
Summary
Building your business around the needs of your ideal customer can be a rewarding and truly transformational process, give it a try.
If you would like to learn more, or you want someone to assist you through the process, give the team at ClientEdge a call today on 1300 755 883