Your customer is hungry and wants something to eat, up pops your ad for a delicious looking pizza. Your marketing just worked!
Know Thy Customer
If you have ever taken a marketing course of any kind the 5 Ps of Marketing - product, place, price, people, and promotion are drilled into your head. This is Marketing 101. And while this is extremely true in reality your marketing should focus on the people and their desire - or 'want'.
It has been said for marketing to work you must
'deliver the right message, at the right time, in the right place, to the right people, for the right reason'.
Again, Marketing 101. So what's the trick in making it work?
The answer is the 'people' and knowing your customer and their wants and desires.
If you know what it is your customer desires, your marketing will become that much better. You will hit home with your advertising if you target their wants.
Look at it this way using ABC Pizza Co. as an example. You want to sell more pizza, your ads are not working like you want them to and you're not sure what to change to make a difference. Maybe you're offering coupons, maybe not. You're promoting in print, on your social media channels, maybe even ppc, and paid ads on Yelp and Trip Advisor. Still not much of a change... Why? We can guess - your ads are probably delivering the wrong message. We're pretty sure, your ads probably show a pizza box, or a photo of your store and probably have an offer of Buy an X-Large Pizza and Medium Pizza price -- or something like it. Are we right?
We probably are.. And guess what - this type of messaging is not going to work. Every pizzeria has the same ad, the same offers and probably similar pricing. What we're getting at is, your customer doesn't care about the price as much as they do about what they really want.
What Does Your Customer Really Want?
They want:
- something to eat, with no hassle, no cooking - a done for them solution to their hunger
- a means to feed many people easily and quick
- to satisfy their late night snack urge
- to enjoy eating while watching the game with friends
- a quick way to feed hungry kids after the game
Does your current messaging offer one of these messages? If not take the time to look at your customer, develop an avatar or customer persona - whatever you prefer to call it - but before you do that, complete a list of what it is your customer really wants. Keep in mind your customers are not one size fits all. You will have the working parent struggling to manage work, children's activities and the need to feed them; the man looking for a late night snack while the wife is out at a meeting; the sports fan looking to feed friends during the game, the list goes on and on.
By looking at these scenarios you will be able to create messages that work. Consider the two ads below - which is more likely to 'hit home' with your potential customer?
Get it?
By making your message clear and answering the 'desire' or 'want' of your potential customer, your marketing will work much better. Contrary to popular belief, price is not the deciding factor in your customer's purchases.. The next step is ensuring your message is delivered in the right place and at the right time.
To help here are the links to a worksheet, tool and document that will help you in your journey to clarifying your marketing message.
- What Does Your Customer Really Want Worksheet
- Customer Avatar / Persona Online Tool
- Customer Profile Worksheet
- Where Are Your Customers - this one is rather old, but the content applies.
If you need help clarifying your message, give us a call - we offer a 1 hour free marketing consultation
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