Customer Centric Marketing

The Sprocket Report

This article has been updated on 10/12/2021 with the article entitled “Successful Online Selling Is a Lot Like Wooing a Lover.”
 

People love to buy but they hate being sold to. We have always known this and yet when it comes to marketing our businesses, too often we fall back on just selling features. So what can we do to foster that “love to buy” atmosphere?

We’ve all been customers, so thinking through our best marketing experiences should give us plenty of clues on what to do when planning customer-centric marketing. Here are some conversation-starters:

Pick a target market
Your local bar may welcome everyone over 21, but we’d bet there’s a particular kind of crowd that drinks there. If the place is full of rowdy college kids, it probably doesn’t appeal to well-heeled jazz lovers and vice versa. And that’s great to know for creating specials, coupons and advertising targeted for the group that wants to spend money there.

Maybe your product or service could be used by “everyone,” but rather than being mildly appealing to a wide range, it’s far more productive to focus on a specific market.

Talk to your customer, not your colleagues
The average non-technical person may not be an expert on download and upload speeds, but they certainly know when there’s a problem with watching their cat videos.

Save the shop talk for around the water cooler and instead explain how your product or service will solve whatever the problem is that’s worrying your customer.

Be where they’ll find you
In the “olden days,” newspaper ads for tires would run in the sports section because men read about sports and took care of the car. If you advertised tires only toward men today, you would miss more than half of your market as women drivers are making more purchasing decisions than ever.  So maybe Pinterest would be a better place to talk about tires.
 
Where are your customers hanging out? This is another example of how really knowing your target market comes in handy. Do the research and be where they are.

Make it easy
You know you have done this yourself:  Page took too long to load? Click on the next link. Shipping cost not posted? Abandon the shopping cart. No menu or prices? Find another take-out restaurant.

For some luxury items, jumping through hoops to qualify is part of the experience. But for most products and services, customers just get ticked off. Why not make it an easy and pleasant experience for them to buy?

Wooing a customer is like wooing a mate. When you put their interests first and help them feel comfortable, they’re delighted to say “yes.” For more suggestions on building successful customer relationships, give us a call. We’re always happy to help!

Kate GingoldKate Gingold

I have been writing a blog with web marketing tips and techniques every other week since 2003. In addition to blogging and client content writing, I write books and a blog on local history.

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Full biography

I have been writing a blog with web marketing tips and techniques every other week since 2003. In addition to blogging and client content writing, I write books and a blog on local history.

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