If you're like most entrepreneurs or small business owners, you wonder the same thing: how can you understand your target market better so that they buy more often?
It's not just you. It's happening to entrepreneurs around the world. In today's world - with Facebook, LinkedIn, Yelp, Google+ and more - it's easier than ever to learn what it's like to work with a business before even stepping foot in the door. Your clients are inundated with choice. Yet, the uncertainty, data overload and general noise, seems to make it harder and not easier.
So, how can you learn what your target market wants?
Get in their head: Don't think about how or why your client works with your business only. What else do they buy? What other companies are in their realm of vendors, suppliers or brands? You're not thinking about your competitors here, you're thinking of every single choice they make. For example, if you're a cosmetics company, think about where your target market is going to the gym, what type of car they are driving and where they are eating dinner.
Anticipate their needs: Be proactive. What will your target market want tomorrow? Masterminds like Steve Jobs nailed this. Use MBA tools like scenario planning to determine how changes in the future market place will shift your potential market.
Educate them: What can you teach your potential clients? This will not only help you better understand their mindset and needs, but it will help you to actually influence their mindset. You'll instantly develop a deep understanding of your client if you can find a way to provide value to their experience by adding to it.
In our virtual assistant company, we know that all clients want (and expect) work to be completed on time, expectations to be met or exceeded and reliability. But to truly understand what they want - to differentiate ourselves from the competition - we had to go deeper. We learned that our target market wanted proactiveness, systems and processes.
What action steps will you take today to make this happen?