Targeting the right people is the basis of any successful marketing plan. If you don’t know who your audience is, you can’t possibly hope to communicate with them. It’s this simple premise that so many start-up businesses get wrong, and the result is almost certainly a failure. So. if you are just starting up and have an idea that you think could be a success, here’s why you need an ideal customer in mind to make it happen.
Who Are They?
Who is your ideal customer? If you aren’t making enough sales, then there is every chance you haven’t targeted your audience correctly. You should have a picture in your mind of your average customer, and everything you do should be pitched towards making them happy. The words you use, the images you have on display, and even the color scheme can all have a psychological effect. It’s vital that you have that target to focus on and speak to them as if it was just one person.
Where Are They?
Once you have a basic idea of who your ideal customer is, you start looking into what they do and where they go. Let’s say your product or service is directed at operations managers. You could look into business forums or industry-specific forums where they exchange ideas and advice. Maybe they take part in regular discussions on LinkedIn. Whatever they do, it is essential for your business to find them and for you to start learning about how they talk and what they discuss. This is all perfect information for creating a more focused buying persona.
How Can They Find You?
Now you have the basics in place; you can start to use that information to help those people find you. How? By getting more website visitors, talking about what interests them and solving some of their problems. Everybody uses search engines, and if they have a problem in their business that your product solves, you can use it to your advantage. SEO company WME recommends using an integrated approach across as wide a range of channels as possible. In essence, that means finding usable keywords that are in common use by the persona you have created. Then, it’s a case of using them to publish targeted content that solves and helps them with their problems.
Product development
Finally, you can use everything you have learned to expand your market. While you have been researching your ideal customer, you will come across problems that your products and services don’t solve. That gives you the perfect opportunity to develop your business and provide those answers – which could be a goldmine if nobody else in your industry is doing so. Never forget that expansion and growth are vital to any business, and without it, your company will stagnate and falter.
So, there you have it. As you can see, building up a customer persona can have a positive effect on your marketing, and even help you develop your business further. By putting an emphasis on focus, you will be able to target the right people at the right time. And that can only help your business become more stable and profitable.