Customers are the cornerstone of every business. But how do businesses get customers? That’s the age-old question every business owner asks, and the goal of customer retention is the number one driving force behind every thriving enterprise. In reality, there are core factors every business owner needs to know in order to attract and retain customers. Here are the key steps to help businesses identify and capture target audience attention.
Know your Customer (Identifying Your Target Audience)
It sounds simple, doesn’t it? The truth is, not every individual surfing the internet is your customer. This is a crucial thing to understand, because knowing precisely who your customer is can inform your business on how to target them. Fro press release distribution to branding, social media feeds to creating blog posts – everything your business launches into cyberspace should be geared to your target audience. Therefore, the better you know your “tribe” (your customer base) the more successfully you can tailor your advertising and online content to appeal to your target audience.
If you don’t already know who your target customer is, start doing market research. Mine big data, do surveys, ask questions, explore industry trends – all of these tactics can be hugely informative in identifying your target market. You might even consider hiring a business consultant, or meeting with an industry expert to gain more knowledge and insight into your ideal customer. The big take-away point here is that the more you know your target audience, the better positioned your business is to serve and sell to them.
Engage Your Customer (Solve Pain Points)
Once you’ve assessed your ideal customer, it’s time to narrow your focus on content that is exclusive to this key demographic. For instance, if you know your target audience is mostly female, of a certain age, that is looking for ways to balance work and home life – that’s your core message. Knowing this should lead your team to create highly focused content that solves pain points for this target audience.
The key to engaging your customer is knowing what she needs, and helping her to attain it. Engage your ideal customer with videos, blog posts, podcasts, etc that helps them solve problems, and provides superior value. In doing so, you are forming a relationship with your customer. You’re informing them that you’re here to help, and provide value. In turn, this engages your customer, making her far more willing to purchase from your business over your competitors.
Stay Relevant to Your Customer (Meet Target Audience Needs)
No business can hope to grow and succeed by staying the same. It’s important to realize that the needs of your target audience will change with the times. Consequently, it is critical for businesses to change with those shifting customer needs. For example, the pandemic posed tremendous transformations in consumer behavior. As a result, smart businesses changed with the times and adjusted their offerings to cater to the changes seen in their demographic.
All this to say, when you see changes in your consumer market, start making adjustments to meet those new needs. Perhaps you can adjust your product line to more effectively solve a newfound problem your target audience is experiencing. You can also create free content on your website that speaks to the needs of your customers and provides solutions for them. There are many ways to stay relevant to your customers. The best way to do so is to stay current, pay attention, and consistently ask, “How can I help?” when engaging your target audience.
Stay Authentic (Care About Your Customers)
Capturing and retaining target audience attention isn’t about shouting at them, or constantly selling to them. This is typically a major turn off for most consumers. Instead, businesses should strive to stay authentic and genuinely care about their customers. The more a business is committed to improving the quality of life for their target audience, the more they win loyal followers (and willing buyers).
Moreover, businesses that remain honest and transparent with their tribe are more likely to retain target audience attention. Ultimately, customers need to trust before they buy. Staying authentic and caring about your customers is a formula that is a time-honored business practice that always champions loyalty from target audiences.
