You’re not going to be everyone’s cup of tea.
So, don’t try to be everything to everyone – a life hack to remember that you can apply to your business too!
A “broad business” that appeals to as many customers sounds fantastic. Isn’t it?
Until you realize you’ll be competing with an infinite number of pre-established companies and organizations, all of which have greater brand awareness than you.
In a broad or generalized market, you will have a more difficult time standing out among a sea of similar niches or businesses.
And you’ll find yourself struggling for online presence, with keywords that are difficult to access and a limited SEO appeal.
What should you do?
Know your customers better and focus on a specific niche!
As per Joana Inch, the Co-founder & Head of Digital – Hat Media Australia:
“If you’re focused on niching, and you’ve nailed your niche, then what you have is a whole bunch of customer success stories that you can repurpose to other people in the same industries…”
Consider these three reasons why your business should focus on one niche instead of generalizing across multiple products, services, solutions or customers.
Customers can tell the difference between authenticity and insincerity.
When you focus on a single customer base and are closely aligned with that customer, you can truly connect with them and earn their trust. The focus creates a bond.
Trying to appeal to multiple types of customers, can lead to dissatisfaction. If you are not truly aligned with a customer, or if you do not truly understand their experiences or interests, they will detect your insincerity.
Customers have faith in the expertise of a specialized provider.
Specialty providers are more likely to inspire trust than generalists because they focus on a single product or service that better meets the needs of the customer.
Broad marketing campaigns are less effective.
When your marketing is targeted enough to account for a specific customer on a specific platform, your ad will resonate more strongly with the customer, and you’ll see a higher ROI than if you simply placed generic ads in as many places as possible.
Understanding your unique target market or customers is essential for providing good service, which leads to strong customer relationships and new sales through positive word-of-mouth recommendations.
Also, understanding the customers’ minds and behaviour, is not easy and frequently necessitates a careful examination to identify their preferences or purchase patterns so that you can anticipate their needs and exceed their expectations.
Here are 4 techniques on how to understand your customers better.
1. Track your customer’s behaviour
Consumer behaviour refers to the social and emotional factors that influence your existing and potential customers’ relationships with your brand or business.
When studying consumer behaviour, you will be interested in learning how consumers behave differently depending on their age, gender, and social class.
It also entails determining why customers prefer your brand over those of your competitors.
Behavioural tracking is an important component of any successful business. In its most basic form, behavioural tracking is a method of gathering information about users’ browsing habits. The information gleaned from their Internet and social media searches assist brands in processing data more efficiently and creating more effective campaigns.
Companies that use behavioural tracking gain invaluable insights into their customers’ online behaviour that competitors do not have access to.
Here is how you can track your customer’s behaviour online:
● Keyword research – Using search engine optimization (SEO) on your page can help you increase traffic. Keyword research is a cornerstone of search engine optimization that allows you to learn about your customers’ interests.
● Customer reviews – Reading your customers’ reviews on your website can teach you a lot about their interests. You can learn about the issues that your customers are having with your products by comparing different customer reviews. Because customers express their desires for your products, you can use this information to improve your products and sharpen your marketing strategies.
● Giving out Google surveys – You can track consumer behaviour when they are online by asking them to complete a Google survey. The advantage of Google surveys is that you can design them to your exact specifications. This allows you to only target consumers who meet the specifications you’re looking for.
● Google and customer service analytics – Google Analytics can show you where your website’s traffic is coming from. This allows you to track the consumer’s behaviour because you can learn their demographics and interests from Google analytics. You can learn a lot about your customers’ satisfaction levels and responses by studying their satisfaction scores and responses. You can also look at your customers’ ticket volumes and first response times to help you predict which marketing strategies and platforms to use.
2. Create more robust buyer personas
Do you know who your company’s buyer personas are? And, if so, how much do you know about them?
Personas are fictional, but they are based on research and real-life customers.
These personas will assist in defining your customers’ most common characteristics and traits, as well as revealing their pain points and weaknesses.
The basic demographics, such as age and geographic location, form the foundation of every persona. You may be aware of these fundamental characteristics, but it is critical not to make assumptions or overlook a significant audience segment.
The basic persona demographics include:
- Age
- Gender
- Educational Attainment
- Goals
- Income
- Location
- Identifiers & Mannerisms
But, you should not focus only on the basics. Your personas include more detailed characteristics in addition to these basic traits. These secondary persona traits can help to make your personas more robust and detailed.
- Needs
- Motivations
- Pain points
- Decision Criteria
- Personality Archetype
- Buyer’s Journey Process
- Perceived Barriers
- Preferred Brands & News Sources
- Preferred Channels
- Preferred Technology/Device
- Quotes
Many marketers make the mistake of developing buyer personas based on generic demographics ONLY.
Unfortunately, these data points simply do not provide enough information to create messaging that emotionally connects with your audience.
3. Invest in customer engagement on social media
As per Statista, the average daily social media usage of internet users worldwide is 147 minutes per day as of 2022. And this clearly explains the critical role that social media plays in shaping and influencing consumer opinions.
But the engagement should be “meaningful”. As Facebook states:
“Interacting with people is associated with a greater sense of well-being. And the benefits are even stronger when you’re close to the person, and the interaction requires some effort… On
On the other hand, just scrolling through your Facebook feed, passively reading or watching without interacting with others, tends to make people feel worse.”
Customers expect you to engage with them too. And there’s no other way to do that than engaging with them through various social media platforms.
People like to see and share positive interactions between brands and real people. They also enjoy writing complaints and reviews. And responding to these complaints or reviews on social media can increase your customer advocacy by 25%.
4. Create Data from Customer Analytics
Customer analytics extends beyond making sound marketing decisions. They can also have a significant impact on your business’s bottom line.
According to a recent McKinsey survey, companies that use customer analytics extensively report 115 per cent higher ROI and 93 per cent higher profits.
Every customer action, from clicking on a link to reading through a web page, provides valuable insight into customer behaviour.
A user behaviour tracking tool can help you determine how customers interact with your website. Google Analytics and Inspectlet are excellent tools for gathering information such as time on page and bounce rate. Inspectlet can even provide real-time short videos of users on your page.
Moving forward
Your customers are your most valuable asset. A company will fail if it does not have a strong customer base. Maintaining good relationships with your current customers is just as important as acquiring new customers for business growth.
By dissecting your clients’ needs, your business will be better positioned to provide offerings and customer service that are in line with those needs. Furthermore, knowing your customers allows your company to develop more targeted marketing strategies, maintain strong client relationships, and increase client lifetime value.
