This one simple marketing trick will bring you more business in 2023
Audience research is often overlooked, but getting it right is the most important thing you can do for your business today.
What is the most important thing about marketing?
Knowing your audience.
That’s a short and concise answer.
Knowing who you are selling to is the number one thing you have to know when you start marketing.
Ironically, a lot of people (small business owners are people too) get so wrapped up in developing their product or service, that they forget who they are developing it for.
One of my first e-commerce endeavors was a crystal shop.
My partner and I sold crystals to the masses, or at least that was the plan.
We went ahead and created a beautiful store, excellent landing pages, terrific ads, and had a great product range.
We finally turned on the facebook traffic faucet and… CRICKETS.
Not a single sale came in.
After a few days running with no sales, we decided to call it quits, when I noticed something was off with our ad copy.
We weren’t using the right words at all…
Sure, we were describing the benefits of the crystals we were selling (or trying to sell at that point) but we’d forgotten one crucial element…
Make it about the customer, not about the product!
Once we dug a little deeper into how “crystal people” think and speak (a little aura cleansing anyone?) and adjusted our ad copy accordingly, sales “magically” started to pop in.
People in the crystal niche trusted the store more because we were speaking in their language.
That’s one crucial aspect of knowing your audience… Do they use specific slang, jargon, or vernacular?
If the answer is yes, use it!
Think about it this way… If you’re selling skinny jeans to the Japanese market, but your ads are in Swedish, no one is going to buy from you. Other than maybe that lone Japanese guy who grew up in Sweden and likes the feel of quality denim tucked into his you know whats.
Just ain’t gonna work.
A few more questions you need to be asking yourself
1. How old is my audience?
2. Where do they like to hang out online? (Specific influencers/blogs/publications)
3. What are some of their hobbies?
4. Where do they live?
5. Are they single or married?
6. What line of work are they in?
7. Do they own a dog? A cat?
Now you may look at these questions and ask yourself, how should I know???
Well, you could run customer surveys for one, if you have the client base for it.
And if you’re just starting out, use that big ol’ head of yours for once.
I like to imagine my “perfect customer” and describe his or her life in a short paragraph, focusing on the parts that are more relevant to my product.
Got more than one “perfect customer”? Write a paragraph for two, three, or five different customers.
Create a message suited for each one, and test to see what sticks.
You’d be surprised how effective that can be.
Need help with your audience research?
It’s the most important thing you can do for your business today!
