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Home Business Magazine Online  Marketing / Sales Customer Service Track Your Customer's Footsteps
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Track Your Customer's Footsteps |
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Written by Sonya Carmichael Jones
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Increase Business with Current customers (and get new ones, too!)
Now that you’ve got a killer product, you’d like everyone and their mother to buy it.
Only you’ve heard more than once it’s easier to sell to a specific audience. Well, what you’ve heard is true. It’s also true that even after identifying your most ideal customers, you’re likely to experience some challenges with getting them to respond to your promotions. If this is the case, trust you are not alone.
As you know, getting customers to notice your products or services is a function of marketing. Specifically, it’s the communication element which announces that your product exist, what it will do for people who buy it, how much it will cost, and where it can be purchased. Since communication is synonymous with promotion, it’s essential that your promotional materials do two things: One, they must inform. Two, they should be persuasive enough to motivate others to make a purchase or inquire about more information. If you've succeeded in both areas, bravo — you’re definitely on the right track.
However, in order to acquire revenue for operating expenses as well as company profits, you must continuously attract new customers and keep current ones interested in making repeat purchases. Unlike big companies, it’s not enough to paste "new" and "improved" stickers on items and expect that to do the trick. With the market being flooded with products and services that offer many of the same benefits, there’s little chance you can get by with a mediocre promotional strategy. Instead you must find creative ways to allure prospects. You can to start by striving to promote what you’re selling in ways that are meaningful to the audiences you are trying to reach.
Track Customer Foot-Steps And Spend Time In Their Shoes
Knowing and understanding your customers gives you the ability to identify other important areas in their lives. Therefore when it comes to seeking out customers it’s easiest to find them by trailing their footprints according to their needs and desires for other products and services.
Wherever your target audience spends time and money is a good indication of where you should place your promotions. To gain more insight into what sparks customer interest, think in terms of how they spend their free time. Ask yourself what social groups your customers might belong to. Consider where they go and what they do to satisfy their desires for education or home-improvement activities. What type of websites are they likely to frequent. When you discover these customer touch points, spend time in these areas, too. Pay attention to what seems obvious, but don’t discount the obscure as little subtleties could help you establish a new niche. Then include the information you gathered into your promotional materials.
Position Products So That Customers Immediately Identify Benefits
The way you describe your product influences how people think about it and visualize its use. Descriptions also have the ability to create customer connections as well as customer disconnects. Consequently to a large degree product descriptions also determine your clientele. For example, if you have a dog sitting service, a promotion that advertises your business as “Fido’s Pad, Home Away From Home” will have more meaning to the pet owner who doesn’t want her dog to be confined to a kennel or a pet owner who is concerned about the level of personal attention his pet will receive. These customers will be willing to pay more for your service and even expect to do so. On the other side of the coin, a pet owner whose advertising message claims that your pet will be “watched over” won’t be expecting you to feature Dog T.V.
What you’ve just learned is a crash course in positioning. Take another look at your offerings. Ask yourself the following:
· What concepts can I associate my products with?
· Are there other ways in which my product can be used to enhance its value to customers? For example, can the packaging double as a storage container.
· What other products on the market are my products compatible with?
· How can I communicate the benefit of my products so they speak directly to the heart and soul of my customers needs?
Gain Customer Loyalty By Connecting With Customer Values
Another strategy you can employ to increase the effectiveness of your promotional campaign is to build your advertising around a value system. Many years ago a television commercial convinced people to eat oatmeal because it was “the right thing to do”. Pepsi Cola’s new generation ads implied that Pepsi was the ultimate drink of choice for people who were young and adventurous. Dove soap became the choice moisturizing cleanser for women who valued healthy skin.
People buy the things they do for all types of reasons. Many times their buying decisions are influenced by their personal values. If you donate a percentage of your sales to a charitable organization or if your company provides uniforms for a school in your community, or if you donate services to people impacted by a crisis, state these things in your promotions. They will not only make you stand out from other businesses but can create loyal customers.
Promote Something You Normally Wouldn’t
Your business has something special to offer (or it wouldn’t exist). Yet there are probably other services you take for granted that could possibly increase the overall benefit to the main products you offer.
Toothpaste and tooth brushes go together. So do milk and cereal and hubcaps and tires. Inventory your offerings, and note what alternative and complimentary products and services will appeal to customers and start promoting them in all of your marketing materials. For example, if you have a service that tends to be seasonal give it a new angle and special price in the “off season”. A tax accountant with a weak client flow during summer months can offer spring classes on ways small business owners can cut taxes. A professional on-site drapery cleaning business could partner with a window cleaner or also offer in-door window cleaning services himself.
Make Your Promotional Material Suitable For Each Customer Group
Not all customers are equal. Therefore not all of the customers who make up your target audience are going to respond to the same advertising messages. Be certain that your promotional materials have a tone and style that reflect the interest of each market segment. For instance, if you have a carpet cleaning business and your objective is to increase your client base with customers who live in a retirement community, the promotional materials you use for customers living in a metropolitan urban setting are more than likely not going to be appropriate.
If you’re unsure about what messages are appropriate, just make a list of the characteristics that your customers have in common. For example, if your customers are coupon clippers then they are interested in saving money. In this instance, you’ll want to promote affordable pricing or how much you save customers money. Be sure to include coupons in your direct mailers and on your website.
Will your customers be available most any time during the day? Consider adding special weekend cleaning rates for customers with demanding work schedules. Another option is to promote your services in terms that relate to time, such as 4 room carpet cleaning in 45 minutes or less! HBM
Sonya Carmichael Jones is an independent copywriter, marketing strategist, and success coach for small and home-based businesses. She’s launched marketing campaigns, instructed marketing classes, and written over 500 articles for magazines and newspapers. She’s also the author of “The Art of Smart Marketing, what small business owners must know to get customers and sell products. For more free marketing tips go to www.marketingbuddha.com.
Previously published in the December 2006 issue of HOME BUSINESS® Magazine, an international publication for the growing and dynamic home-based market. Available on newsstands, in bookstores and chain stores, and via subscriptions ($15.00 for 1 year, six issues). Visit www.homebusinessmag.com
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