For some businesses it may seem like an easy question to answer – who is your customer? But the reality to many, if not most, businesses and brands is that we’re actually not sure… and that is big problem.
“Your audience is one single reader. I have found that sometime it helps to pick out one person, real or an imagined person and to write to that one”
John Steinbeck
Nothing impacts the strategy as a business more than the key and focused understanding and development of the customer’s experience. In this development, the business is able to gain a key understanding of who their customers are and why the engage with or why the don’t engage with the values of your brand.
In today’s constantly evolving marketplace – the launch of more and more online small businesses have defined the need more than ever that each small business owner take the time to clear establish their purpose before they spend a dime on anything. The rush to market with new brands, products, solutions often require business to overlook the simple essentials before understanding what and how consumers are inspired today.
The most important thing that you must remember is that you must know your audience.
Lewis Howes
Knowing your Audience requires some homework…. any of course, that homework must be ongoing and constant. There are more tools available to each business, regardless of size, revenue or experience, to capture data on each and every interaction they have with customers and prospects.
Here’s a few fundamentals to understanding and learning more from your Audience.
1. Build a superior Customer Experience
The most important thing a business can do today is to improve their customer experience. Defined as every interaction a brand has with each customer, these relationships are determined by the feelings developed by your consumers during these interactions.
2. Evaluate your Customer Journey
Lead generation and Business Development are a hot topic in most organizations, and although critical to the success of all businesses, it is also just the beginning. As equally important, is the continuation after the sale for each and every customer. As businesses learn more about their audience they can better understand how this journey can be improved upon.
3. Listen and Learn from every Interaction
The theory is easy to accept, but difficult to implement. Especially as your customer list grows, finding opportunities to engage on a personal and direct basis to learn how you can improve is essential to your growth. Social media, email, chat, online survey and customer support are key and but often just the basics for this strategy, more can and must be done.
The key to KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE is not accomplished with a simple one and done strategy it is a constant and evolving strategy that is done on a day by day basis. The commitment is significant but the return on that investment is, as they say, priceless.
Our team at Crestone DMS is driven by our passion for exploring and discovering ways for small and growing businesses to define relationships and grow customers. We believe in the importance of your customers, as it drives everything we do and more importantly why we do it.