You have a product or service. You are trying to market it to the adoring public, who have cash that you want.
But the real reasons they want your product may not be the reasons they are telling you. They may not even be admitting the real reasons to themselves.
For instance, let’s say you own a dog-grooming service. Your prospect tells you the reason he wants your service is because he wants the family dog to be clean and have short hair.
You, in turn, believe him and that is the type of things you address in your future marketing, because obviously that is what your customers want.
The truth may be far deeper. He may not care about the dog, but his wife wants those things. So, the REAL reason he wants your services is so that his wife will stop nagging him!
Now, what is the practical application here? Am I telling you that your next ad should say “Stop Your Wife’s Nagging, Get the Dog Groomed Today”?
No. I can’t give you a specific solution, but I wanted to make you aware of the problem. You have to become a mindreader. You have to learn to look beyond what your customers tell you to their real thought processes behind their words. It isn’t easy, I know. But if you are able to get into your prospect’s head, find out what really motivates his behaviour, then your sales will soar.
How do I get into my customer’s head?
Well, that’s the real trick, now isn’t it?
Nobody said this marketing stuff is easy. But here are a few pointers.
Remember that your customer is a human being, with hopes, dreams, fears, etc. The first thing I would do is paint a picture of your customer.
I’m not talking about getting out a canvas and brushes and actually making a painting. I mean describe your customer in as precise a level of detail as possible. Figure out who your ideal, perfect customer is. What is his or her life like? What does this person do for a living? How big is his or her family? What does your customer do with free time on the weekends? What is his or her hobby? You may not think these details are important, but they are. A simple distinction between whether you are targeting men or women can mean a tremendous shift in thinking.
You may be saying to yourself “I am an insurance agent. My customers are both men and women.” And that may be true, but you have to decide on one to target. Because the way you communicate with a woman, what her “hot buttons” are, what her fears and dreams are, are vastly different from how you would most effectively communicate to a man.
Once you know all of this information about your ideal customer, you can begin to see what is important to him. Maybe his family is important. Maybe, if he has a good job but no family, then he likes to buy expensive gadgets. Maybe if she is a twenty-something recent college grad, then her focus is on carving out her place in the “real world.” She is afraid that she won’t find a good job and her student loans will come due and she will have to admit failure and move back home with her parents.
These are all things that your prospect may feel to the deepest core of her being, but she would never tell you that. She may not consciously be aware of these reasons and motivations herself.
Don’t just figure out what your customer wants to buy. Seek to understand the true motivations, the reason WHY he or she wants to buy.
About the author: Brent Allan is the “Small Biz Marketing Wiz” who specializes in unconventional marketing methods for small businesses. He is the editor and head honcho for BizWarrior Online. He kind of likes this concept of doing a small marketing tidbit every Monday.
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