Understanding your customers
I have procrastinated writing this blog for ages because the subject matter is much less inspiring than media, but it is important to understand your customers before you launch your media strategy.
There are so many dense texts on this subject and customer analysis tools that have been around since the 90s. So, what I will do in this blog is relay what works for me, and I will try to make it as entertaining as I can.
Knowing your customers and how to reach them via media strategy is important for businesses and all aspects of life. When you write your CV or update your LinkedIn, your potential employers are your customers, and you need to learn how to persuade them effectively.
If you select images for your Tinder or Bumble profile, the suitors you want to attract are your customers, so you need to learn how to entice them with your profile.
If you are a social media influencer, all your followers are your customers.
This blog is about knowing your customers. Understanding 'the customer' and the basic 'sales cycle' is important so you can effectively persuade them on any of your portals.
In this blog, I will cover a few basic tips and tricks for understanding your customers. I will try to modernise some of these concepts by using social media as examples.
Sales Cycle Basics
In a basic sales cycle, there are four stages that your customer could be in:
Sleeping
Awareness and discovery
Researching solutions
Making an educated purchase decision
Ideally, you want to start connecting with your customers when they are in the 'awareness' or 'sleeping' stage because they will consider you when researching solutions and be more likely to purchase from you.
In the sleeping stage, the customer is still waiting to be made aware that they have a problem or a need. They are going about their daily lives until some catalyst moves them into the awareness stage.
For example, I have about five pairs of bikinis. I was content with this number and did not think about them at all until my boyfriend told me he had booked a trip to Greece for my birthday.
Suddenly, I've entered the awareness stage, as I realise that I'm going on a Mediterranean holiday, and my five pairs of bikinis will not be sufficient!
I have now become a warm lead for someone in the bikini business. As Greece is only three months away, it's time to start researching bikinis.
If I have encountered your marketing while in the sleeping or awareness stage, you are already ahead of your competitors, and because of this, it may be where I begin my research.
I start with the bikini companies I know or follow or whose advertising has attracted me in the sleeping or awareness stage. The more I search for bikinis, the more I am remarketed with bikini advertisements, and the options seem endless. You can see how crucial it is to use marketing to reach consumers at the research stage of the sales cycle.
Instagram is a great platform for this; since clicking on my first bikini ad, I have been served bikinis from various brands - large and small.
The Instagram remarketing algorithm allows small businesses to seize this opportunity to reach a targeted market at a low cost.
Finally, it’s time to make my decision. Here are the factors that will influence my decision:
the style of the bikinis
the cost
how they look on the models
how trustworthy I feel the site is.
A brand must tick all of these boxes to inspire me to make an educated purchase from it.
Now, let's examine this process using Instagram as an example and consider how a successful bikini page could interact with me at every stage.
Sleeping stage—If a bikini page has been advertising effectively and creating high-quality content, or if I have purchased from them before, I may already be following them.
To ensure you reach people in the 'sleeping stage,' consistently create top-notch content and work on your brand's reach. Provide impeccable customer service to ensure repeat business.
Awareness stage—Now that I'm aware, if a business is advertising and I come across it, I will visit its account because I know I am in the market for bikinis. If the content is engaging and the product is appealing, I will consider it for my research.
To ensure you reach people in the 'awareness stage', use targeted social media advertising (this is very easy to set up by selecting the 'automatic' audience; Instagram does this for you).
Research stage—Now, I am researching my options. If I discovered you during my awareness stage or you are an old-time favourite, I am considering you.
To ensure you make it onto a consumer's research list, make sure your advertising is targeted and your product is desirable.
Educated purchase—Now, I am making my educated purchase.
To ensure you get chosen for purchase, you need to ensure that your effective marketing strategy has brought me to this point: that your website is user-friendly and trustworthy and the payment process is seamless.
Before launching your website to the public, conduct a test transaction to guarantee a smooth customer experience.
Now that you understand the basic sales cycle most customers go through when looking to purchase something, you can consider how you can contact them at every stage of the cycle mentioned above.
Although my bikini purchasing proved a great example of a customer sales cycle, my trip to Greece was cancelled due to the international outbreak of Coronavirus. (On the plus side, I now have enough raunchy bikinis stockpiled to start a small e-commerce store!)
There are many variations of the sales cycle, one of which I have derived from my experience with marketing and consumers. However, if this area interests you, you should do some further research.
If you are an influencer, this cycle is also important to keep in mind because you are often tasked with promoting a product. If you can do it effectively, your partnerships will continue.
As mentioned earlier, you can apply this sales cycle to your online profiles.
If we use Tinder as an example, your perfect match may be in the sleeping stage until they become single and are pushed into the awareness stage. When they join Tinder and start scrolling profiles, they are doing research by swiping right for those they may like to date. Finally, after going on a few dates, they may decide who they would like to become exclusive with.
Sales and digital marketing skills can benefit you in all areas of life, and once you realise that you can apply these skills in other areas, there's no stopping you!
Creating Raving Fans
After you have convinced your customer to purchase from you, you want not only repeat business but also for them to tell all their family and friends about you, turning them into raving fans.
First, you may be asking, what is a raving fan?
Ken Blanchard coined the term in his book Raving Fans! A Revolutionary Approach to Customer Service. Blanchard used it to describe a customer who was so impressed by a business's customer service that they wanted to tell the world about it.
In this section, I will cover some tips and tricks for creating raving fans for life and using social media to do so:
Get to know your customers
An important step in creating raving fans is getting to know your customers. Put yourself in their shoes and really get to know them so you can establish their needs and over-deliver.
Ways that you can use social media to get to know your customers are:
Study a segment-sized portion of your follower base. See if you can spot similar personalities or trends. If you notice a pattern, adapt your marketing to connect.
Ask your customers questions. Don't be afraid to ask them what they think of your product or what they want. Instagram's Q&A story functionality makes getting your customers' opinions easy. Don't hesitate to use it. Ask questions in your Facebook posts.
Once your customers tell you what they want and you deliver, you are on your way to converting them into raving fans.
These tactics are not just for businesses; influencers can use them, too. You can ask your followers what content you should post more of or who you should collaborate with.
Engage in messages and comments.
Even if you receive hundreds of messages and comments, try to reply to everyone. Reading the comments of your customers or followers helps you get to know them. When you interact with their comments, it makes them feel special and can begin to convert them into raving fans.
Don't be afraid of criticism. If someone takes the time to provide negative feedback or comment on your product, view it as a positive that they care enough to engage. Reply to negative comments with manners and transparency, and take action to fix the issue. I think doing these things can turn a negative experience into a positive one for the customer, and it looks better than deleting comments.
Over-deliver
Once you understand your customers and they are already buying from you, if you want to convert them into raving fans, you need to deliver more than you have promised.
There are numerous ways that you can over-deliver for your followers or customers.
Here are some examples to inspire you:
Surprise them with something personal, like a handwritten note in their purchase
Gather purchasers' birthday data and delight them with a gift on their birthday
Reward repeat purchasers or active followers to say thank you
Surprise them with something branded that will remind them of you but also be something they will use
Giving out branded pens and bottle openers is overdone.
Why not think outside the box and reward your clients with something they'll enjoy?
Some ideas include a branded box of chocolates, branded champagne, or wine glasses.
Don't just use a plain logo; perhaps put a funny meme on the champagne with your logo at the bottom and try to do something remarkable.
Aim to give recipients a gift to share in their story and thank you for.
Have a vision
Set a clear vision for your business or your Instagram page, and ensure it aligns with what your customers or followers want. You can use the insights tab to analyse the engagement of everything you post and tweak your vision accordingly.
Be passionate about your vision and show your customers this passion. Passion is infectious, and customers may catch it and become raving fans.
Have a customer-centric approach
A customer-centric approach aims to provide a positive experience for the customer. This can be achieved with a quality product, great service, and building relationships.
Ensure your followers (or customers) are central to everything you do. Always strive to go out of your way to make their experience with your brand a pleasant one. Never stop inventing new ways to surprise and delight your customers.
Remember! Once you’ve created a raving fan, losing them only takes one mistake.
