One of the most important things to realise in marketing is that people buy with their heart, even though they try to rationalise with their head.
Let’s try this exercise with you being the customer. Let’s say that you need a new laptop, so you walk into a store that has a range of laptops laid out in a row on the counters. What is the first thing you look at?
A. You read each label to see which has the latest chip technology
B. You move from one to the other testing out the speed at which they save a document
C. You move down the line looking at which one looks the best
Can I just tell you that you are not selling what you think you are selling?
I can hear the umbrage you are taking right now!
“OK Teik, I’ve listened to your fancy ideas so far, and some of them have been really useful, others have been interesting, but now you’ve gone too far! What do you mean I’m not selling what I think I’m selling! I know exactly what I’m selling, I’ve been selling ‘X’ for years!”
Let’s take a breath, I’m not trying to insult your intelligence. Rather I’m challenging your perspective!
Let’s try this – quickly write down what you are selling.
Write it down before you read on and watch the video.
If you read anything about marketing, you know the basic philosophy of all marketing is market segmentation.
What’s market segmentation? It’s the way you analyse your market to understand how different groups of potential customers “tick”. Why is it important? So that you can focus your attention on the group or groups of potential customers who are most attracted to your offerings, and find them in the places they gather, whether virtually or physically.
Let’s take an example. Say you sell luxury fashion items. Who is your market? You might say men and women who like to stay fashionable.
Okay that’s great but that’s still a large slice of the wider market – are you sure all of them would be attracted to your offering? If you segmented that market you might be able to come up with at least two segments – men who like to stay fashionable and women who stay fashionable. If you then looked at the characteristics of the first, men who like to stay fashionable, you might find that say as a group their majority age group is between 18 and 25 and they don’t spend their money on fashionable fashion but rather trendy tech. Whereas the group of women are between the ages of 17 and 38, buy fashion, and often buy for fashion their partners. So who’s your better target market?
We all have our guilty pleasures! We all harbour secret desires that we don’t always voice out loud because they’re too embarrassing or perhaps seem unrealistic.
Well your customers have them too, and they form the real deep-down basis of why they buy things. They want to be rich, famous, acknowledged, happy, sexy, buffed, clever, thin – so they buy products that will make them feel that way and outwardly say logical things like “I love that brand of dress because they are so well made.” What they really mean is “that dress hugs my curves and makes me feel great!”
What are your customers’ guilty pleasures?
Remember, people don’t buy because of what your product is made of – they buy because of the way they feel about it. So
Understand what they want and how else they get to feel that emotion?
How does your product give them that experience?
Clarify your message to tell them exactly how to get that feeling
Place those messages and the product exactly where they go to get that feeling.
If you want more great ideas, and free tips and tools on how to grow your business, go to teikoh.com and sign up to get them delivered to your inbox every week.
Tell me, when you started your business, was it just to sell things?
I’m pretty sure it wasn’t. I think you started your business because you had a passion. You wanted to build a better life. You believed you had a solution to a common problem. You were passionate about your ability or believed you could use your experience to help people. I’m pretty sure you didn’t start a business just because you wanted to sell something!
So why, when we talk to potential customers do we start with a “sell”? Why don’t we start with why we are doing what we are doing?
Believe me, people are attracted to a business with a purpose. People are attracted to your product or service because they believe in you. People trust you because they are attracted to the passion you show in what you believe. Customers don’t buy from you because they like the features and benefits of your product – they buy because of the passion for the solution that you see in the benefits that you offer.
Remember, if you really want to attract customers to your business, don’t start with a sales spin, start with why – why you are in your business, why you started your business.
You’re not a personal trainer because you want to sell personal training sessions. You are a personal trainer because you believe in a world where people are fit and healthy and having fun, and that you can give people that lifestyle in an effective and fun way.
You’re not a mechanic because you want to sell someone an oil change. You are a mechanic because you have a skill in making machines just hum and your passion is to make things right.
So tell your customers that. Believe me, you’ll get more customers than just telling them about an oil change.
If you want to get more free tips and tools to grow your business, go to my website teikoh.com and register your email address so that Ican deliver these weekly ideas directly to you.
And if you want to know more about attracting customers who really want what you offer, you need a targeted Marketing Plan. I have an online training and workshop that will take you through 7 simple steps and create your scheduled, focused, practical marketing plan to target and attract your ideal customers – click here to learn more.
Great explanation Teik, this post is motivating! Thank you.