How to find out what they really want – and get more business.
In one of my more popular marketing presentations, I show a slide with a quotation from Zig Ziglar, a popular motivational speaker and salesman extraordinaire. It says “You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want.” I believe that quote should be in the “Marketing Ten Commandments” (if it exists) because it’s so important.
Whether you’re a local barista, mechanic, civic club or Pastor – knowing your target market is critical to crafting and then delivering a compelling message.
Here are a few tools you can use to make this job easier.
Surveymonkey.com – you’ll find that some of the answers to questions like “How can I improve my service?” or “Is there another product or service you would like us to provide?” can be found by simply asking the question of your existing client base. These folks have already opened up their wallet for you and are the most likely to do so again, and may share some insight into how to attract new clients. You may wish to offer an ethical bribe in exchange for their time.
Another great way to find out what people really want is to analyze the questions they’re asking online. I’ve also known certain entrepreneurs who would create products based on the questions people were asking. What a great strategy! I volunteer my expertise AllExperts.com, which helps me stay in touch with what future clients want.
Here are a few other great places you can try – Answers.Yahoo.com and Ask.com. Just visit those web sites and type in a subject related to your endeavor. You may also want to visit some industry forums. These are quite often visited by people who are experts and it’s a great place to find out how others are serving their client base.
You can research interesting new developments at Google Trends. They record and archive search volume so that you can see items that are of particular interest to people right now. (Think current events or developing stories). Be sure to probe historical data for things that might be cyclical like holiday or seasonal search terms. Having this “inside” information could help you deliver the right message at the perfect time.
Now that you’ve surveyed your existing client base, developed some insight by visiting online question pools, and determined the best time to deliver your message – there’s no reason you can’t be a marketing rockstar and sell more coffee, fix more cars, or grow your membership for congregation like never before.
About the Author: Ken Ivey, affectionately dubbed ‘the Web Czar’ by peers – has been helping businesses embrace technology for 27 years. Contact him at ken@livingwaterdigital.com or call 920-645-2700
