The questions that will help you get more customers than you can handle.
How to build a tribe of loyal customers.
The magic questions that will help you understand your customer and drive big business your way.
I have a question for you: Who is your customer? If you're like many marketers, business owners and entrepreneurs, you may be tempted to answer: "Well, everyone. Because my product and business can appeal to so many people"
While I understand why you’d like to go after everyone, I’m here to tell you that you can’t and you shouldn’t!
The harsh reality is, if we try to be everything to everyone, we inevitably end up meaning nothing.
“The best and only way to have a big impact with your marketing is to focus relentlessly on a narrow customer niche.”
Your customer isn't "everybody". And let’s be honest, no one wants to be treated like everybody and anybody. Every time you treat your customer like they're "everybody," you're essentially telling them you don’t really care about what makes them unique, and you’re inviting them to treat you like every boring business and faceless brand out there, with apathy, disdain, avoidance, and no interest what so ever.
As counter-intuitive as this may sound at first, you need to let go of the need to appeal to everyone and do your best to appeal to your ideal customer only.
Effective marketing connects with people on a human level. It makes you feel seen and understand. It feels personal and leaves the customer thinking, “oh my god, they get me.”
You need to find the courage to go niche and tailor your marketing to talk exclusively to your niche. It’s the only way to cut through the clutter of bland, benign marketing and stand out in a crowd, no matter how small your budget may be.
The beautiful irony of this truth is that when you go niche, you end up appealing to more people.
How do you go niche? How do you appeal to your ideal customer? Well, I have a few questions that can help you.
With a little consideration and analysis, you can quickly identify what customer type represents the largest segment of your business. There are generally 20% of customers who make up 80% of your business (you can learn more about the 80/20 principle here). Once you’ve identified your core customer, then it’s time to get to know them by answering the 10 questions below.
What are their personal demographics?
Where do they live? How old are they? Are they married/single/divorced? Do they have kids? What's their education? What's their income? What's their profession? This information will help you with the right marketing channel and targeting.
What does their typical day look like?
This information helps you understand how your product and service folds into their life. How can you make a day in their life better?
What are their beliefs and values?
About life, about your industry, your field of expertise, and the type of product or service you offer.
How do they evaluate and make decisions?
How complex is the path to purchase? Who do they have to run the decision past? What information do they need before they can make a decision?
What do they dream about?
What are their needs, desires and aspirations? If you can help them achieve their deepest needs and desires, you'll have a loyal customer for life.
What keeps them up at night?
What obstacles do they face? What stands between them and their goals. What’s stopping them from being the person they want to be or living the life they want to live. People will generally be more active in their efforts to avoid pain than find pleasure. If you can help your customer with the things that keep them up at night, if you can help them work around the obstacles they face, you’ll have your customers knocking down your door.
What are the wounds they carry?
What are your customer’s doubts and insecurities? We all have them. Big and small. If you understand the wounds your customer carries with them then you can market to them with empathy and compassion. Your empathy and compassion builds an authentic connection and establishes trust.
What are they proud of?
We all have achievements and things that we're proud of. Just like a friend, when you acknowledge someone's accomplishments and celebrate their wins, you build a bond.
What are their interests?
What are their hobbies and their passions? What do they do for fun? This gives you a more holistic understanding of your customer, what they love and helps you identify the different ways you can connect with them.
Who are their role models?
Who does your customer admire and look up to? And why? Role models says a lot about a person. It points to skills, traits and behaviour that is important to your customer. It also gives you ideas for partnerships and collaborations.
Once you have this insight, you can tailor your marketing copy, creative and channel strategy to connect with your customer in a more meaningful and powerful way!
The time and effort you invest in answering these questions upfront will profoundly impact your marketing and business down the track. You will also give yourself an insane competitive advantage. Because I promise you, not many people take the time to do this.
Give it a shot - you’ll be surprised by the results.