I’ve listened to many people talk about marketing lately. It’s fun to hear all about the latest and greatest. There are all kinds of new ways to reach out to our clients. In today’s business world social media is king and these vehicles have allowed us to reach our customers faster and with more persistence than ever before. It’s amazing what we can do with the click of a mouse. Yet are we really being effective?
Are we really doing things that effectively marketing our businesses? Are we really reaching our clients and potential clients? Are we getting through all the noise? Or are we just throwing lots of information out into cyberspace and hoping it will grow our businesses?
Hoping will not generate revenue. Lots of activity will not guarantee an increase in sales. The only thing that will grow our businesses and increase our revenue stream is the RIGHT kind of marketing. And the RIGHT kind of marketing for your business is the kind that puts your customers first.
The ONLY way we will get through all the noise and grow is to make it ALL ABOUT THEM. Our marketing efforts are not for us. They are not designed to make us feel good or look good – they are for our clients. Marketing is not about us – it’s about them.
And in order to make it about them, we must KNOW them. We must know who are customers are. We must know what they like, how they like it and where they like it. We must know why they buy, why they care and how they want to engage with us. We must where they live, who they listen to and how they make decisions. We must know as much as possible about our customers in order to build an effective marketing campaign. Our first job in marketing is to become students of our customers. Once we know our clients we can then we create a marketing strategy.
Many businesses do it backwards. They create a strategy and then try to make it fit into their target market. And while it may work by accident – it’s not a long term success strategy.
Take time this week to think about who your customers are. Do you know them? Do you really know them? If not – get to work and get to know them. The more you know – the more successful your marketing efforts will be.