Know your customer. This has been my mantra since, well forever. I firmly believe you have to intimately know your customer. What motivates them; their behaviors, their needs, and their wants. What are their reasons for making a purchase decision?
What is their decision journey?
You have to understand the process they go through. To date myself, 15 to 20 years ago, the way to reach your customer was through product literature, advertising, and trade shows for example. But, business is so different today. By the time they pick up the phone and make that phone call to your company, they’re already close to making their decision. They’ve already done their research.
The way they approach their decision to buy is doing their own independent research, so you have to make sure your information is readability available. How do you do this? Content. Whether it’s articles, social media, public relations, video, your website, podcasts, SEO, etc., you’ve got to be out there so they can find you because they are searching. Maybe not specifically for you, but they are searching for a product or service like yours. And, don’t forget, your competitors are most likely doing the same. Doing the research to understand how people consume information, helps you focus on the right communications channels.
If you’re not out there with some type of content campaign, you’re losing out on opportunities.
Also, not only is it important to know your customer and their buying journey, you also have to know the dynamics of the market in which you’re competing. Are you a market leader? A challenger? This has an impact on how you speak to your audience. A challenger’s messaging is very different from that of the market leader; yet both need to make sure you’re addressing your audience’s needs.
There are so many different emotional and rational factors that can impact your customers buying behavior. The economy, technology, culture and political climate for example, all have influences on your customers’ values, their attitudes, and ultimately their buying choices. You have to understand all these different aspects. The way to do that, of course, is to use research to truly understand who your customers really are.
Become intimidate with your customer. Define who they are, validate your thinking, then, make sure they know who you are.