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Understanding your consumers to achieve business success
The document emphasizes the importance of understanding customers to achieve business success by identifying target demographics, psychographics, and attitudinal aspects. It outlines methods for researching customers, assessing market viability, and creating differentiated products, highlighting the significance of niche marketing. Overall, it stresses the necessity of aligning products and messaging with customer needs to effectively compete in the market.
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Understanding your consumers to achieve business success
- 1. Understanding your customers toachieve business success Sandeep Das, Independent Brand Strategy Consultant
- 2. Defining who ‘youare selling to’ is critical “Get closer than ever to your customers. So close, in fact, that you tell them what they need well before they realize it themselves.” – Steve Jobs “Increasingly, the mass marketing is turning into a mass of niches” – Chris Anderson, author of The Long Tail “Understand why and how your customers interact with brands they already know and then start trying to align your messaging with those partners” – Kurt Uhlir, CEO Sideqik
- 3. Identifying ‘who yourcustomer is’ starts at why you decided to start your business The snap of inspiration The ‘problem’ that you wanted to solve Why you thought the ‘problem’ was relevant? What did you intend to offer differently? Why did you think it would have appeal? How did you intend to add ‘value’? Why did you think your solution was different?
- 4. Some aspects tounderstand while defining your customer Be very narrow Targeting is most effective in ‘niches’. If you have a product with a broad target group, define the edges very sharply Choose multiple dimensions Define your customer using a combination of demographic, psychographic and attitudinal metrics Stay away from oversimplif -ication Ignore all the hype and hoopla around Millennials, Gen X, Gen Z etc. Understand broader trends No one lives in a vacuum and neither does your customer Observe In this age of digital driven fleeting engagement, deep observations still have immense value Assess market viability Your product needs a market and the market needs to have future viability Assess longevity of appeal Is your product a ‘one use’ wonder or does it have repeat value and appeal? What stage is your product? Your target customer expects a finished product that delivers on all promised dimensions
- 5. Niche-marketing success story:Lehman’s • Lehman’s specialises in selling non-electric, old- fashioned tools and appliances • Initially achieved success by targeting the Amish, which has helped them grow the business • Current target groups include hunters, fishermen, Hollywood set designers and environmentalists “The secret to a successful niche business is realising that it isn’t about you. It’s about the customer.” – Glenda Ervin, VP Marketing, Lehman’s
- 6. Creating a typology/ description of your target customer Create a visual typology of your target customer. But use the typology as a guiding tool, and not as a set of rules and regulations. Demographic • Age • Gender • Education • Socio-economic status • Income • Presence / absence of children • Region / City • Urban / Rural • Household responsibilities • Household status Psychographic • Attitudes towards life in general • Media consumption habits • Shopping habits • Social habits • Community involvement • Charitable causes • Environmental causes • Social causes Attitudinal • Specific attitudes towards the category of your product • Shopping habits towards specific category • Views towards brands and products • How brands are selected? What drives brand selection?
- 7. Researching your targetcustomer Before you conduct any form of research to understand your customer, you need to finalise the questions you are looking for answers for: How big is your target customer base? What trends impact them? What are their biggest challenges? What solutions are they looking for? What options do they have currently in the market? Are there new opportunity areas? Does your product tap into any of these opportunity areas? How uniquely differentiated are you to the competition?
- 8. How to researchyour target customer? There are multiple ways and none of them break the bank!! Secondary research Consulting with friends / family / colleagues Deep observations Attending network groups / startup communities Trade / industry publications Attending themed conferences Primary research* Keeping abreast of and analysing trends Expert interviews / conversations Reading theoretical / industry papers Attending breakfast and lunch briefings Following influencers on social media
- 9. Using Google ConsumerSurveys Identify the size of consumer target group Assess the size of the problem that you are trying to solve Assess how competitors are faring in solving the problem?
- 10. Your target consumeris defined, then what? Effective targeting of consumers requires an understanding of 2 key factors: • Level of fragmentation in the market • What are your competitors up to? Unless you are bringing a disruptive invention or innovation into the market, you need to accept and embrace competition in your product development and marketing process Absence of any competition can actually indicate two issues: • Is the problem that you are trying solve big enough? • If yes, what is the nature of the barriers to entry and how big are they?
- 11. Shaping your productin light of competition (and when you know your target customer) Positioning Are there differentiating elements you can own and communicate? Value What is your value equation? This is not about the money but the impact on the customers’ life Problem What emotional and functional benefits is the customer going to derive? Distinctiveness How is your product different from competition on functional and emotional delivery? 1 2 3 4
- 12. Creating a differentiatedproduct for an identified target group Innovation does not need to be a multi-million dollar activity that only big corporations can afford Setup Twitter / Facebook polls Google Consumer Surveys – Mini U&As Industry / expert interviews or conversations Involved in a startup community Feedback on Bulletin Boards / review sites Product reviews on retailer, aggregator sites Evolving trends in a specific market or category If you a sizeable budget, commission a research agency!!
- 13. Positioning a differentiatedproduct to an identified target group No gaps in the market but existing products not delivering on expectations Significant gaps in the market exist and no current products deliver on them Create a new market altogether – Does your product have it?
- 14. Thank you &Questions Sandeep Das, Independent Brand Strategy Consultant E: contact@sandeepdas.co M: +44 750 3935 142