Social Business Success

Draw your customer.  Sounds pretty silly eh?  Believe it or not many organizations are not able to do this.  Some people’s reaction is that it is a silly comment.  If you think about it for a minute it really does make sense.

Do you know who your customer really is?  Is your product and or service developed to that person?  What about your marketing efforts?  Is your marketing strategy “throw it up on the wall and let’s what sticks?”

Tim Berry in his article “Not Everybody is Your Customer” writes Bill Cosby said well:  “I don’t know the secret to success, but I do know that the secret to failure is trying to please everybody”.  Research everything about your target customer and then find out who isn’t your customer.

Some businesses feel they have to be all things to all people.  Think about your product or service.  Who is the person that is going to make that purchase?

I was talking with a gentleman from an organization that asked me how I would market their company using social media.  I asked the person to draw me a picture of his firm’s customer.  He wasn’t able to do that.  I said “until you know who your target customer is developing any kind of marketing strategy is a waste of time. ”  This is a prime example of a business not knowing their target customer.

A couple of months I was talking with a startup.  This group is developing an online product.  During the conversation I discovered the group did not know their target market.  They were going to write their product for everyone.  I suggested to the group they research who their target customer is and write in their business plan.  Then develop the product to their specific demographic.

These are just a couple of examples of businesses not knowing their customer.  How can a company develop a product if they don’t know who is going to use it?  Why spend time developing a marketing strategy when you don’t know if your target customer will see your message?

Once you know who your target customer is, you can then develop marketing strategies for your target customer.

The next time someone asks you to draw your customer; you’ll know exactly what that means.