Marketing Success = Understanding Customer Needs & Expectations
Customers are looking to do business with companies that understand their needs, wants, emotions and perceptions. Therefore the first thing you need to do is to make sure you understand needs, wants, emotions and perceptions or as I call it NWEP.
Customer Preferences Foundation to Marketing Strategy
Your strategy is to position your business at the same level as the majority of the buyers you are targeting.
You can go just as broke positioning your product or service above, as below the marketplace! Remember, look for the biggest bulge of buyers for your specific product or service and then package your product or service to meet their needs head on!
Package Your Business To Meet Their Needs
The concept is to direct all your company resources toward your best prospects. To communicate in such a way that all your communications vehicles (brochures, web site, logo, ads, etc) clearly mirrors your targeted audiences’ most wanted needs and desires in your product or service.
With a ‘NWEP Profile’ of your ideal customer, you will be able to create brochures, web site and a business model that is in ‘alignment’ with the customers’ point of view. This valuable information can then be used to:
- speed and simplify development of your marketing tools (brochure, web site, sales calls etc.).
- eliminate the need to re-engineer your business model because your marketing and sales plan did not achieve its goals and objectives.
- reduce lost opportunities.
- build marketing momentum.
Another tactic is to create an image of your product, service or company that transcends the facts. The purpose is to associate your product or service with positive or desired values, which have little or nothing to do with the product itself but are sought after by your target market.
Needs (The most urgent or essential feeling)
The customer or prospect identifies a need. Something has happened or prompted a new awareness of a specific need. It is usually something the customer does not have or a need that is not currently being met. Identify those unmet needs.
Wants (Desire, wish or deficiency)
Now the prospect is seeking information to meet a specific need. Remember. people buy things to solve a problem. What problem (s) does your product or service solve. No problem = No need = No sale. Continue to work on this until you uncover a specific problem (solution) that your product or service provides.
Emotions
Any major purchase is made based on emotions and justified with logic. What emotions do you observe in the decision making process? Identify them and evaluate how emotions help or hinder the customer to evaluate the alternatives. Remember, the larger the purchase, the greater the consideration.
Perceptions
What are the negative and positive perceptions that customers have about you, your company and its services? How do they affect the purchasing and decision making process?
Target Needs Not Customers
Describe the different attributes of each service that adds value for each target market. To some degree the demographics, psychographics and geographic location of your primary, secondary and tertiary segments will dictate their preferences for a specific product or service.
In the markets you have chosen, what do they want?
- Less stress.
- Save money.
- Experience a smooth transition on move-in day.
- More safety.
- Simplicity.
Simple Trick
One trick I like to use is to pretend that the customer is actually my employer. Think about that for a moment - if they are your ‘boss’, you will listen to them and let them tell you:
- What they want to buy.
- How they want it.
- How much they are willing to pay.
- Where and when they want it.
They will also tell you what else they expect for their money.
Customer Preferences Will Make or Break Your Marketing
I define marketing as the process by which information about a product or service designed to meet a need - real or otherwise - is communicated to those who have the need. The process can take place on the spur of the moment or be planned. However, the goal is always the same. To get people to ‘consider’ the merits of whatever is being sold.
When done well, they will want to investigate further or acquire the item or service. Now you have a process to gain greater understanding of your market.
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