How to market effectively to your customers

In this day and age, where we know that people have access to Google, review sites, social media and word of mouth in order to make an informed purchase decision, it still boggles the mind that some companies and products insist on treating their intended customers like idiots.

It might be oddly comforting to think everyone fits into one cookie cutter design, or that we truly are “sheeple” that have no clue what we are buying but attitudes like that won’t serve you or your business in the long run.

So how do you make the most out of your marketing to customers?  By remembering that your customers are people first!

Connect:

How do you market effectively to the customers you want to reach? Well, you need to connect with your customers as individuals. You need to remember they are people- and to reach them in a way they will respect.

You can do this through understanding who your customers are, finding out what motivates them to connect to your product and continuing an emotional journey with them.

Research is key. Use your emails, social media, product packaging, special offers and any other kind of marketing you can think of as an opportunity to speak with your customers.

Find out about who buys your product and you have a much better chance of finding the same. Talk to them. You’ll be surprised what your customers will happily tell you!

Beyond this, here are a few key points on how to market effectively to the various customer groups you identify.

Put your customers first.

Put your customers needs first, not your own. Think about the context in which your customer is going to engage with your product and tailor your conversation to suit their needs.

Once you start putting your customers needs first and start speaking to them in a genuine way, you can attract the right kind of customer to your product. Highlight what your customers will get out of the product, not what took you months to code. Highlight the benefits for your customers when they use your product and why they should choose you.

Know who your customers are. 

Know your shopper types. Find out what media they consume, what makes them tick and what rewards them. Find out what makes them choose you over other products in the market, how they view themselves when they use your product, and why they continue to support your company.

If you don’t know the kinds of customers you have, you won’t be able to hold their attention when a competitor who has done their research moves in.

Connect to your custoomers. 

I don’t really mind if you think I’ve been huffing rainbows and chasing unicorns through the fields of Giddyville- people connect emotionally to products.

They want your products to make them happy, to solve a headache, to make them feel better, to amplify joy – all of which are emotionally motivated things.

Even the products that just serve us to make us keep a certain baseline of living negate negative outcomes by being there to silently do their job as a safety net. They stop us from feeling disappointed, annoyed, angry and deflated by the outcome- they keep our emotions in the realm of the positive.

The more customers can connect with what you do emotionally, the more likely it is they will tell their friends positive things and keep coming back for more. If you are a pain in the neck or dry and boring, forget about it.

The most important way to market effectively to your customers:

Always remember, your customers are people! So if you can tap into them as fellow human beings, your ability to create a conversation with them will improve and you’ll both reap the rewards.