Published: May 6, 2016
The siren call of your target audience is one that’s both intoxicating and maddening. Intoxicating in the fact that you realize who it is that makes up your core audience, the one’s that have the ability to boost your sales. Maddening in the fact that, although you may know who they are, it is sometimes seemingly impossible to find them and find out what matters to them.
Think about it: Companies everywhere are reshaping their portfolios and re-positioning their brands to jockey for the attention of many of today’s niche consumers. For many, this is clear in their quest toward influencing the millennial.
Despite everyone’s best efforts, the age-old challenge still remains. Very few companies have perfected the art of tapping into what really matters to their core customer, channeling that feed every second of every day, and ultimately using that knowledge to their advantage.
Finding What Matters
Today’s customers have more information, more ways of connecting, and more choices than ever before. This makes it increasingly complex to unravel touchpoints and create the idea customer experience, without which makes it impossible to invest in the areas of performance that truly affect customer sales and growth.
While the process for determining a successful strategy hinged on the ‘right content, in the right channel, at the right time, to the right person’ is quite lengthy, here are a few basics to start you in the right direction.
- Stand in your customer’s shoes. Imagine yourself, literally, standing in the shoes of your customer. What is a day in their life? What do they value? What motivates them? What drives them crazy? Putting yourself in their shoes will change how you talk to them, how you entice them to look at your brand, how you serve them, and ultimately whether or not they choose you for their purchase. All of these considerations will help you develop your unique personas.
- Play where they play. Whether on or offline, put yourself in the position to interact, browse, seek information, and play on the channels where they often find themselves. For post millennials (a.k.a. Gen Z), that channel is definitely not Facebook. Instead, try Snapchat or Instagram.
- Listen to their conversations. Once you find where they are, just stop. Listen. Most brands today fail in telling a compelling story because they’re busy talking about themselves, their product, or their service. In order to truly understand where you can make an impact, turn off your megaphone for once and listen.
- Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Then, rinse and repeat. Tapping into what really matters to your customers is not a one-time exercise. Do it consistently. Listen every day. Then and only then will you find a deep enough strategy to adequately inform a killer strategy.
What do you think? Do you know what really matters to your customer? Fill out our contact form and let’s chat!