Building on customer profiles
Our last post left off at the stage of using customer profiles to understand your target audience’s demographics and professional attributes. Once you have completed this important stage, the next step is to engage with these audiences by joining the conversation in their head. To do that, you need to know what matters most to them. So, consider, write down and answer the following questions:
- Has something happened to make them reach out to you? What’s spurred them to action NOW?
- What do they want to achieve as a result of working with you? Whether it’s a service or a product, what is the desired outcome?
- What concerns do they have about using your product? Often, it’s price based, around loyalty to an existing product/service or maybe timelines or risk. Are there ways to reduce these concerns and reassure them?
- Who is your competition, and in each case, why would these customers choose to use the competition or use you?
- What could you do to make them trust you? Case studies, reviews on Google, testimonials, awards, qualifications, free trials and guarantees are all ways to help build trust and reduce risk.
- What do you want them to do? This may not be as simple as a sale. It may be repeat purchases, recommendations, upsells/cross-sells. How can you encourage this behaviour and be direct about what to do next?
BONUS: if you have multiple products or services, write down which of them this group is likely to buy.
Once you have this written out for each profile, it’s easier to create briefs and compelling messages because you can use the answer to each question.
Maximising your insights
There are two last steps to make the results more powerful:
- Prioritise your customer groups
This can be based on the following considerations:
- Which group spends the most?
- Who is likely to buy more of your services?
- Which group is easiest to access or has the best conversion rate based on experience?
Once you’ve prioritised based on these considerations, you can build a marketing plan beginning with the top priority profile. This stage is important because without prioritising, you don’t have a clear next step.
- Harness the power of research
Your profiles are based on what you THINK is going on for your audience. Make sure you test this by researching your customers and industry. Create a survey using software like Google Forms giving multiple choices based on your profiles and offering respondents the space to write additional points. You could even ask for a testimonial at the end of the survey at the same time.
If you missed or want to review the previous posts in this series, click the links below:
1st – Do you understand your value?
2nd – How to identify your competitors
Get the marketing support you need
While this process may seem daunting, it is the most reliable way to deliver marketing that works. Not only that, it will minimise frustration and uncertainty and tap into insights that you never knew you had access to.
However, if you struggle to at any point in the process you can always ask for help. We have templates, videos, occasional workshops, and can even develop the profiles for you. Call us on 01858 374 170 or fill in our contact form to find out more.
MD & Head of Digital Marketing
Jessica has worked in digital marketing for over 10 years and has watched it evolve from an experimental marketing option to an essential tool for most businesses. She is driven to help businesses achieve their objectives using the best digital marketing resources available and recognises that each business is different. Jessica devours the latest news about digital marketing and is constantly learning in order to stay ahead of the trends for clients.