Buyers are not your enemy
Traditional marketing language is so combative; opposite to the mindset you actually need to make marketing pay for your small business. Think about it… you plan a campaign, you target and audience, you capture their data. No customer wants to feel hunted, or penned in like a prisoner.
I know I use these words, but when you actually stop to think about them, they’re really unhelpful in terms of putting you in the right frame of mind. One of the key problems is that these phrases are de-humanising. Whereas, in reality, understanding that your buyers are people is vital. I’d go so far as to say that it’s marketing’s one universal truth. The one thing that remains true across every market, every country, every product – it’s people who buy things.
Let’s think about more helpful words and what they mean in practice:
Don’t target your audience, engage them: If you say interesting and relevant things, people will find you. This is especially true in an online setting. Appealing to a person’s natural curiosity, answering a question that’s been bugging them, or providing information that makes their life that bit easier, are all great ways to put your stall out in a way that draws people to you.
Don’t capture your buyers, invite them: Capturing a person’s contact information sounds clandestine, and unfortunately in many businesses it is. Emailing people who didn’t actually give you their permission for example. Inviting people to willingly give you their details is so much more powerful. They will know who you are, be warm to what you’re saying, and expect to hear from you. Great techniques for inviting people to let you get in touch are: providing a subscription email newsletter, running an online event, or offering a really useful download.
Don’t run a campaign, always be there: Campaigns are a quick hit. They’re like that friend who’s all over you when they need a favour, but never seems to have time for a chat when you need a shoulder. That’s not what you want to be. You want to be the totally reliable person they turn to. In practical terms this means having a steady stream of useful and interesting material for them. It means being available via whichever channel suits them. And, having great customer service that responds to any problems they might have.
Don’t lock people in, make them want to stay: I don’t know about you, but I resent those things where I don’t feel it’s totally my choice. Like, my mobile phone contract – when I get to the end I almost want to move just to show them that I can. Maybe that’s my personality, but I don’t think I’m alone. I firmly believe that if you make your customers feel that there are exit points they can use if they want to, they’re more likely to sign-up in the first place. Obviously, you have to provide a great service and be lovely people to work with to keep them wanting more. But, this has knock on benefits like excellent word of mouth from existing customers generating you new ones. Unless your particular business model means that you don’t want people to come back to you, or where your customers never talk to anyone else, I’d avoid hefty lock-ins.
Marketing that delivers solid sales results in the long term is marketing that gets to the heart of how real people really buy things. The starting point for that is to understand your buyers as people. Dropping the combative language could be a great first step.
By Bryony Thomas | Chief Clear Thinker | Clear Thought Consulting Ltd | @bryonythomas | www.clear-thought.co.uk
If you enjoyed this post, you may also like:
- Blog: Content marketing – why you need to ask permission
- Blog: How to lose business and irritate people
- Blog: The buying decision – it’s a quick step, not a power walk
Clear Thought Consulting works with small businesses, equipping them with the marketing strategies, suppliers, skills and set-up that they need to become bigger businesses. We do this by planning and delivering 12-month marketing transformation programmes – supporting a small business through a step-by-step process to making marketing pay. We firmly believe that when you can’t out-spend your competition, you have to out-think them.
Published on 24 May 2011
