Getting to Know Your Target Audience – Online Client Acquisition Pt2
The concepts we shared about online client acquisition in a previous post are important steps in a successful marketing strategy. What we’re talking about today though is even more important – gathering product development information directly from the folks you hope will buy it from you.
Once you have the demographics of your target audience in place, thanks to your online surveys, it’s time to get serious about focusing your services on the client profile you’ve developed.
Target Audience Surveys
Here, we employ the advice of some real audience survey experts, the folks at SurveyMonkey.com. In an article titled, The best questions to ask for developing any product, they share ideas for, well... The best questions you can ask for developing any product – or service:
How do my target consumers currently use my product?
If you don’t already have a product, answering this question may involve discovering what problems consumers have with what they’ve found on the market. Knowing these points of value can help you focus your business on the qualities that are most important. If your business wants to add complicated features or services, yet your customers prefer a simplified experience, that’s valuable time and money lost.
(In other words, learn to accept a “Yes, we like it” statement and stop pushing for more.)
What do my customers dislike about my product/services?
While it’s useful to find out what your customers enjoy about your products or services, some of the most important information you can gather is what customers dislike. Sometimes the best questions to ask for developing products or services are the easiest to answer, too, as many customers aren’t shy about voicing their concerns.
(It may be hard to do but you often have to set your ego aside and take the feedback in the spirit intended, even when it’s negative.)
What ideas do customers have for improvement?
Ordinary customers have plenty of great ideas to improve what you offer since they’re the ones using it the most. Surveying customers regarding improvements will not only provide valuable insight but also helps them feel engaged and more invested in you and your offerings.
(Offering them the opportunity to help you improve your product/services shows you are genuinely interested in their opinions, which can gain you huge loyalty points with them.)
What problems can I solve that my competition cannot?
This question is your classic competitive advantage. It’s the secret sauce in your product recipe. In our scheduling software example [from the article], the software may be faster and easier to use than a paper schedule, as well as cheaper than hiring a secretary or assistant. A paper schedule can be fragile and requires continual hand-entry, and an assistant can be expensive.
(No product is perfect, especially when offered through an impersonal medium like the internet. Use this client input to refine your offerings and try to make them “more perfect” than your competition.)
And then there's this one, based on our experience...
How can I do it better than my competitors?
This may be the most important question in your target audience surveys because the answer takes you directly to the heart of the matter. That is – exactly why your target customer is looking for an alternative to your competition. Is it their presentation style? Is there a personality conflict between the provider and the customer? Has a once-ripe offering aged beyond its “Best if used by” date?
(There could be any number of reasons a consumer has lost interest in a once-favored product or service. However, you simply cannot presume to know why that has happened. Instead, you need to know exactly what the issue is and find ways to make your offering better.)
The Hard Truth We All Must Accept
We mentioned this earlier but think it bears repeating. It’s a hard truth that ego is often the downfall of even the most sincerely committed, otherwise empathetic entrepreneur. After all, if you’ve devoted the time and invested cash to get training in your niche, you are entitled to some pride in your expertise. We get that, of course.
But, if you're struggling to sign up clients; if you're finding it hard to justify investing time, money, and energy in your business; if you're losing sleep trying to figure out what went wrong, it may be time to realize you don’t have all the answers. But, you can get them, through surveys of your target audience.
We sincerely hope the steps we’ve shared today will work for you to improve your online client acquisition efforts. If you need help, Ted remains available for business consulting to the trade. Simply… Contact TD Fall today.