Know your customer

In marketing, your first question should always be the same: Who is your customer? A shocking proportion of companies don’t have an answer to this question, despite the fact that understanding your customer is one of the most fundamental principles in business.

A recent McKinsey & Co. study of almost 700 senior executives came to the following conclusions:

n Only 6 percent of companies understand the needs of their customers extremely well.

n A whopping 45 percent of companies admitted to having limited or no understanding of how their customers interact with them online.

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n Seventy-two percent of the executives considered their company’s budget for customer insights inadequate (at least they understood the dilemma).

By their own admission, companies today don’t know their customers well enough.

Without customers, your business would not exist. Customers are the lifeblood of any business and must be treated as such. In order to cater to and grow your customer base, you must first know who your customers are, but basic demographic information is often too broad to rely on when building detailed marketing strategies.

Successful organizations must know more than the size of the market and the general industries or occupations to which its products may appeal. They need to know customers’ buying behavior, internet habits and expectations. What pain points do potential customers have? How do they shop? What is their journey with your brand, and what does their decision-making process look like? Does your message resonate with them? Why do they buy from you? Why do they buy from your competitors? How price sensitive are they?

As a business owner, you need to answer these questions before even beginning to think about a tactical plan. If you know when, where and how the customer buys, your marketing can be focused with that moment in mind.

How exactly can you get to know your customers better?

Customer insight begins with face-to-face meetings and other conversations with customers. Customer advisory boards, annual client appreciation events, company open houses, one-on-one client dinners and Net Promoter Score surveys are excellent ways to obtain customer viewpoints to incorporate into the development of your marketing strategy.

Consider inviting key customers to a customer summit where they can discuss thought-leadership topics, along with your company’s offerings, in a comfortable environment.

To better understand the decision-making process of your customers, consider partnering with a survey company, tracking online behavior, using online crowdsourcing platforms such as GutCheck, engaging on social media, and leveraging a database marketing firm that can provide key insights into your current customers.

Form a customer-centered committee. This team should research and discuss tactics, such as advisory boards, Net Promoter Score surveys, customer summits and data-management platforms, in order to determine the best first steps for your company to get closer to its target audience. n

Chris Ciunci is founder and managing partner of TribalVision, which has offices in Warwick, Boston and New York.

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