As a small business owner, it is imperative that you know your ideal customer inside and out. While we are all ambitious entrepreneurs, we can't all serve "everyone" with our products and services. Your potential customers will raise their hand if your messaging is directed at their specific needs. Marketing campaigns and organic content marketing that are directed at a specific target market will yield better conversion rates. Don't be the person whose marketing strategy is to just "throw spaghetti at the wall" and hope that it sticks. Tune in this week to Uncle Ron's porch as he helps us to understand our target audience better.
Do you love fishing or catching? Uncle Ron and his wife have a friendly back and forth banter about the difference between the two. As a child, Ron's wife enjoyed fishing trips to the lake with her grandfather where he set her up for success at the catching part. In order to catch fish, you need to know their habits and grandpa was a master at that.
In the episode, Uncle Ron employed some of his storytelling techniques by comparing fishing to acquiring your target customers. He kicked off the week with an engaging analogy comparing understanding fish behavior to knowing your target audience in business. Just as different seasons affect what fish eat, different times and conditions also affect what your consumer behaviors. Uncle Ron emphasized the necessity of knowing your prospects inside and out, stressing that understanding them is fundamental to effective storytelling and providing tailored solutions. Income level, job title and what social media channels they consume are a few of the things to
know about your ideal customer. Lastly, he introduced the 40 40 20 rule by Brian Kurtz, advocating that 40% of marketing efforts should focus on understanding the audience's pain points, preferences, and decision-making
processes.
It is important to identify the specific characteristics and preferences of your target audience. Uncle Ron highlighted the significance of storytelling in connecting with your audience and identified the tendency of different types of target audiences to group together in specific places.This is especially true online. Social media platforms or forums can cause people to group together based on what type of content they like to consume. By finding these groups and solving their problems, you can effectively attract them to your business.
On Wednesday, Uncle Ron encouraged the use of social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter to gather insights into your target audience. By observing online groups and understanding the language, interests, and problems of these communities, businesses can create tailored messages that resonate deeply. Different social channels have a different feel to them and are made to engage specific audiences. Each channel also has its own preference for the types of content that it favors. For example, Instagram favors short form video content while Twitter rewards short form written content. A deep understanding of your primary target audience will help you to identify what social channels and types of content resonate the most with them. Social media analytics will further help you to understand what type of content resonates with them.
Another way to gain valuable audience insights is to look at the words your ideal client uses on
social media. For example, you can search a Facebook group for a particular topic that pertains to your business. As you read different people's comments on the subject, you will be able to extract the specific words that they use. Copy and paste repetitive and compelling words from social media into a document for later use. These words are valuable insights that will help in crafting content and stories that resonate. This target audience strategy will help you to understand your customer demographics better. You can create relevant content for them by using their own words. These words act as a cheat code to connect with your audience by agitating their problems and presenting your solution effectively.
Be sure to compile all the gathered information into a cohesive view of your well-defined target audience. Consider various characteristics to get clear on your audience demographics. These include, but aren't limited to:
● Entertainment preferences
● Family status
● Online activities
● Music preferences
Knowing these things about your potential customers will help you to connect with them on a
deeper level. Using their own words and preferences shows them how much you care about solving their problem. Lastly, by solving their problems and positioning the solution as an "easy button," we can make our customers feel like heroes. Understanding your customer personas and their individual journeys will help you to better connect your storytelling to their situation. This makes them feel seen and understood. And THIS is what causes them to take action!
Here are the links that will get you to the individual podcast episodes that we summarized in this
post. Our daily 6-7 minute episodes will keep you on track to meet your business goals.
With years of experience, we are confident that we can help to make your small business more
visible in your local community. We offer different packages that will allow you to get the help
that you deserve in order to grow your small business.