When planning out your business growth strategy for 2015, what do you need to focus on? There are so many factors to running a small business filled with passion and provision, it’s easy to get caught up in things that are not maximizing your business’s resources.
The competition in small business is growing, and there are a lot of distractions for your potential customers. And, more than likely, your business is not their only choice. So how do you get more customers and beat out the competition with your 2015 business growth strategy?
Focus on your target to have the most effective strategy. This comes down to knowing your customers. This is not a new concept in marketing, but it is amazing to us, how many small businesses are trying to grow, but don’t take the time to fully understand who exactly is their target market.
When you take the time to gather and understand the demographics, as well as the psychographics of your market, you can better develop your buyer personas. Buyer personas should be one of the building blocks for marketing your small business and planning your business growth strategy. Understanding these will bring you more qualified leads and increase the efficiency of your marketing budget.
First you need to understand the terminology and how this fits into the bigger picture. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
Demographics are the qualities such as age, sex, and income of a specific group of people for the purpose of identifying markets.
This answers the question, “Who will buy my product or service?”
Psychographics refer to the market research or statistics used to classify groups of people, based on psychological variables such as attitudes, values, fears, etc. These are also used for the purpose of identifying markets.
This answers the question, “What is important to them?”
These two types of marketing data are extremely useful in developing an effective marketing and advertising strategy. Knowing the types of people watching TV or listening to the radio, what station they listen to at what times, how old they are and other “facts” can help focus where and when you spend your advertising dollars. Understanding their motivations for buying products and what they value most such as family, friends, status, or philanthropy allows you to focus your marketing on the those factors.
Both Demographics and Psychographics are important to developing your buyer personas- but even more important is to apply it to your marketing to make it effective.
As you gather information- applying it to your marketing campaigns and messaging is a critical part of a business growth strategy.
How do you do it?
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Ask for the data- When buying ads, ask for the demo and psychographics.
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Observe your existing customer base- who are they, what motivates them, what are their interests, where do they spend their time, what issues are they trying to solve, what values do they hold dear, who influences them and who do they influence?
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Use the data you have collected to develop buyer personas- a description of an average customer. Most businesses have at least 2 different types of buyer personas but we don’t recommend going over 7. Keep your buyer personas to 3-5 and you have covered the majority of your potential customers.
Once you understand your customer, you can then “personalize” your marketing message. Writing to their specific values, motivations and needs will break through the clutter and “noise” around them. In a world where your potential customers are constantly bombarded with information and ads, if your message speaks to them personally, they are way more apt to pay attention and to be engaged.
Use your buyer personas to help guide you in creating your marketing message, choosing which marketing channels to use, timing, even what benefits and features you choose to focus on.
You will find your business is getting more qualified leads and a higher conversion rate- and a better ROI for your marketing dollars.
For more details about creating your buyer personas and how to apply the process to your marketing plan, check out our blog entitled Internet Marketing TIps: What is a buyer persona?
If you are interested in hiring an agency to help you with strategy and messaging, or even implementation of your business growth strategy, that is our sweet spot and we are in the business of helping small businesses grow into Passion & Provision companies! Contact us to find out how we can best help you grow your business.
