Let’s travel back to the fond memories of childhood – TV is pretty popular and the internet is not accessible at all times through a microcomputer in your pocket. You know how to use your imagination, passing hours with Barbie dolls or G.I. Joe action figures. Those toys allowed kids to create their own magical world in which they controlled everything and the rules didn’t apply.
Even now, kids love these toys because they appeal to the imagination. These dolls show children that they can do or be anything they want. Barbie, as a brand, proved that women can be the star of the show and are allowed to achieve any dreams they have – they are allowed to be any profession they desire. This brand gave little girls the confidence and ambition that they were craving! Parents are happy to buy the latest Barbie because it sends their daughter a message that she can accomplish anything. Here’s an example that shows how Mattel forges a connection with their customers by appealing to emotions:
Appealing to these emotions and dreams in not only little girls, but also their parents, made Barbie a classic. Mattel was able to understand and speak to what parents want most for their children – a happy childhood that leads to a secure future. Women that grew up with Barbie want their daughters to have the dolls, too, because the Barbie brand made a lasting connection with them as a child. Mattel successfully makes emotional connections with their customers because they understand what children AND parents desire most. Mattel has understood for a long time that having a great product will create a fan, but showing the customer you care about THEM more than the sale will create a super fan.
Convincing someone to buy your product or service isn’t easy. It takes hard work and the only way to convince a customer is by proving to them it will somehow make their life better or fulfill their desires. Connecting with your target customers and understanding what they want (along with why they want it) will allow you to better market your products or services. Below are 4 ways to connect with your prospective customers and show them that your business understands them.
Identify Your “Ideal Buyer”
One way to figure out the hopes and wants of your customer base is to create a profile of who your target customer is and who they want to be. If you create a profile of both demographic and psychographic information for your target customers, you will have a better insight into your customers and essentially create an “ideal buyer” profile. Choose an age range, marital status, income range, location, etc. for your “ideal buyer.” These things can vary from person to person in your actual target customer range, but they will generally hold the same values and outlook on life as your “ideal buyer.” Include not only demographic information in your profiles. You want to include information about what they want out of life or their ultimate goal. Include information about what they are interested in, other types of items that they are likely consumers of, what their thoughts and reactions would be to different marketing strategies, etc. You want to compile as much information as possible about your “ideal buyer” so you have a full understanding of who they are and what they want. Understanding this will allow you to understand how you can most effectively market your product or service to them.
Make a “Problem and Solution Chart”
Once you know as much as possible about your target customer, make charts to map out what problem they have and how your product can solve this problem. This will make up the bare bones of your marketing strategy for your product or service. If you can hit a major issue that your target customer wants solved, then you will appeal to something relevant to them and catch their attention. After figuring out what problem they have or how they want their life to change, then you can figure out the future: What will their life look like once their problem is solved or thier want is satiated? Once you decide how their life will be better, you have the positive side of your marketing strategy. You will be able to show them exactly how their life will be improved because of your product or service, which is a very strong marketing tactic to have. Finally, you must make a plan showing that you can guide them through the process of obtaining this positive ending. Showing you have a plan communicates to your customer that you know what you are doing. Building this authority and trust is a vital part of convincing your customers to buy your products or services. No one wants to buy something if they think it won’t work or if the seller has nothing to backup their claims that life will be significantly improved.
Survey Previous Customers
Say you are having trouble figuring out exactly who your target customer is or what specific reasons were for previous customers buying your product. Surveys are a good way to answer some questions you don’t have the answer for or to figure out exactly what works in marketing your product or service. You can also use information from these surveys to create your “ideal buyer” profile. Make sure if you are using surveys as an option that they are short but still get to the root questions you need answered. If they are too long no one will be willing to fill them out unless you offer them an incentive. For shorter surveys, you can ask the customer to take it as a favor to you or the company and let customers know that you are continuously trying to improve your product, so their information will help tremendously. Longer surveys are good to gather demographic and psychographic information along with information about your products or services. Though longer surveys give you more insight into your customer base, they are harder to get people to fill out and a lot of the demographic information can be found in public information about the market you work in. The final tip about surveys is to make sure you only ask the questions that matter. You can cut down a longer survey by cutting out questions that are not essential for you to market your product or service. Choose the most important and pressing questions to get the most out of your surveys, leave the others for a later survey or try to find the answers through another method.
Test Out Different Strategies
This option is a little more risky than the others, but without taking some risks you may never find the most effective strategy to market your product or service. You can split your market into A and B groups to try out different strategies or split it up even further (more than 2 splits may only work for very large businesses). Not only can you split groups to test different marketing strategies, but you can segment people from the larger group based on things that they have shown interest in. Segmenting your customer base will allow you to more effectively market your products or services because you are getting to the root wants and fears of that group. If you cast a wide net with one marketing strategy, some customers may lose interest or think your product or service isn’t for them when they are in your target customer range. Making your ads more specific and targeting just the people you made them for will get you much further because it shows your customers that your product or service was meant for them and that you understand what they like.
Need help connecting with your customer base or still trying to identify your “ideal buyer”? We are here to help! Contact LETSDEVELOP.TV today to get the help you need to take your marketing from functional to exceptional. Reach out to us HERE!
