Most small business owners start out without actually knowing who their ideal customers are. To make matter worse, they lack consistent marketing efforts to reach their target audience if any. They are like this handmade rug store owner, Jason Doe, who has no marketing plan in place but has the enthusiasm to run the business day in and day out. The store sells expensive oriental rugs from all over the world, but Jason is unaware of who he should be targeting to make the most out of his import routine. Instead, if business owners like Jason concentrated only on the set of clients that would be most interested in their product or service, in this case people in their late sixties or seventies, it would have been much easier to put marketing efforts in the right direction.
If you are a business owner, ask yourself this important question, “Why would someone be willing to do business with me?”. Is it because you sell the product or service for the cheapest price on the planet? Is it because you offer quality items that similar businesses don’t? Or is it because your store is conveniently located in a shopping area where there is a lot of parking space? You will never find out, unless you take a closer look at what you offer. Other business owners may also answer yes to all the above questions. But in order to truly answer yours, you need to differentiate yourself from the rest. For more info, visit https://thinktanks.io/blogs/blog/3-workplace-design-trends-your-employees-will-love.
If you ask a few small business owners about their best source for attracting potential customers, they would gladly point out to their current and previous customers. The referrals from other customers are their future customers. Yet, if you ask them what referral system they follow in order to make it possible, they are confused because there is none. Remember that, you can get a handful of customers before the end of the day and hope that they would refer other people to your business someday. This sense of hope is not enough to run your business and grow it to success. You need a system in place that can be executed consistently and one that contributes to a steady flow of customers at your door. Some business owners spend thousands of dollars in marketing and advertisements that are ineffective and simply a waste of money and resources. Instead, they should put a plan for a referral system, one that would survive even when the going gets tough.
When you know your audience and therefore your ideal clients, you know everything about their activities outside your business. You will know who they are, what they do, where they usually shop, what magazines they read, what ~, what TV shows they watch, what they buy and what type of people do they associate with as well. This is not being intrusive, but rather knowing your customers in and out – the kind of information that would benefit your business.