As mentioned in my previous post, one of the biggest marketing challenges facing small business owners is attracting new customers. Even though you may know you have an amazing product or service, many business owners aren’t sure what to do to find buyers convince them to purchase (which we call conversion in marketing lingo).
Below, I outline some critical steps to attract and convert customers. Taking the time to walk through these steps will ensure your marketing dollars are spent on the most effective activities for maximum return on your investment.
- Identify market segments.
The first step to creating any kind of marketing plan is to identify your target audience is. Start by writing down the types of buyers who could benefit from your product or service. To start, I’d keep it to a maximum of three main segments (and you may have fewer). - Create customer personas.
Now that you’ve identified the segments you want to focus your marketing efforts on, it’s time to dive in a bit deeper. This is where you will research and write down all of the things you know about each segment including demographics (age range, gender, location, income etc.), backgrounds, hobbies, values, challenges (as they relate to your product or service), how they prefer to receive information, etc.
Typically a persona will use a fictional name for each segment, outlining in detail a universal description of that market segment. This helps paint a picture of what that buyer looks like, and will help you understand why they buy from you, what motivates them, and where to find them. - Develop compelling messaging.
Once you have identified your target segments and created personas, you are ready to develop messaging for each audience. What motivates one persona may be very different from the next, so it’s important to create your messaging so that it speaks to the buyer’s unique challenge, and how your offering solves that challenge.
Put this messaging in a place that’s easily accessed by anyone responsible for your marketing activities. Having a consistent message across various channels over time will help to strengthen your brand. Also, be sure to review and test your messaging with your target audience to ensure it resonates the way you want it to, and adjust as necessary. - Build out a marketing plan.
Finally, you’ll want to create a marketing plan, that lays out all of the activities that you will undertake to target your buyer, and convert them to becoming a customer. A marketing plan will include your objectives, target segments, messaging, tactics (or activities), channels, budget allocation, campaign calendar, and what you will be measuring (ie., number of new customers, revenue, units sold, etc).
Taking the time to plan out the above steps will help ensure that your marketing activities are much more focused, consistent, budget-friendly—and most importantly—effective. If you need help with growing your customer base, let’s chat, I can help.