Читать книгу 99 Marketing Mistakes - Kenyon Blunt - Страница 10

Mistake #4

No Definition Of Your Core Customer

Pick up almost any book or article on small business marketing, and it probably starts with a description of your customer. It is so essential but widely ignored. Why? In my opinion, it’s not a matter of knowing your customer, but it’s the depth of that understanding. Customers respond to either “pain” or “gain.” How does your product or service move your customers away from pain or closer to gain? A customer description that includes these motivators is vitally important.

What Is a Core Customer?

Regardless of the type of business, you sell to customers. In the past, marketers have used the term “target customer,” but “core customer” is more appropriately descriptive. It means that you want to identify a specific customer, a real person. Your customers are unique individuals—they are more than just statistics. The more you know about your customers, the more you’ll be able to recognize their needs and cater to them.

To grow your business, you need to create and identify your core customer. 3The Inside Advantage by Bob Bloom explains that not all customers are created equal. Some will drain your resources while others require little support. The goal of defining your core customer is to get more of the latter.

Create Your Customer Persona

To go beyond a demographic description, you need to develop a profile of your core customer that describes who they are, what they do, and why they like buying your product or service. Essentially, you are creating a fictional profile based on your understanding of customers’ needs and decision-making process. It’s called a “persona,” and it’s used to help shape the copy you write and the offers you make.

How do you develop a customer persona? There are hundreds of templates out there that can help you create a persona. Here’s one that incorporates all the descriptions you’ll need:

1 Image of a fictional customer–Select a stock photo of someone who resembles your core customer.

2 Most significant pain points – What does your core customer have the most difficulty in achieving?

3 Challenges – What are the roadblocks they have in overcoming their pain points?

4 Background–Describe their typical experience—how they’ve arrived at becoming your core customer.

5 Hobbies & interests – What topics are they passionate about?

6 Common objections – When presented with products or services similar to yours, what do they find objectionable?

7 Goals – What is your core customer hoping to achieve?

8 Demographics–Describe your core customer in demographic terms. If you market to businesses, these are called firmographics.

3 Robert Bloom, The Inside Advantage: The Strategy That Unlocks the Hidden Growth in Your Business, New York, McGraw-Hill Education, 2007.