In a tough market, you need to give your small business the best chance to succeed. Adopting a clear and tight strategy to stay customer-focused can help business owners get big results from small budgets.
Focus on your customer holistically.
Essentially, one of a business’ key metrics should be customer success. Although critical, many companies only place focus on customer service or support. What sets businesses apart is an approach that involves the customer from the beginning of their journey and incorporates their needs on an ongoing basis, and as the business scales.
This can be done by identifying the customer’s specific pain points and working with them to closely ensure that they achieve the results they want by using your solution. Then help them to go over and above those goals. Include your customer in your business and product journey; talk to them often; ask for customer feedback, respond to it quickly, and innovate accordingly. This will result in winning customers who are successfully using your product. If you treat your customer well, they will continue to take your business wherever they go.
Know what kind of customer you want.
The success of a business’ product development, marketing and ultimately the entire business, depends on identifying and mapping out in detail who the company’s ideal customer is.
Often businesses target too broad an audience which dilutes marketing outputs and makes budgeting infinitely harder. Take the time to work out your ideal customer profile (ICP). An ICP as Gartner aptly puts it, focuses on the most valuable customers and prospects that are also most likely to buy. This is not the business’ total addressable market, but the section of that market that has the potential to be of most value and is thus worth focusing resources on.
Tell your ICPs about it.
Focused, effective marketing is every business’ secret weapon. Let your product do your selling. Identify your customers’ and potential customers’ pain points and highlight how your product solves these. Don’t be scared to adopt a brand personality and take a personalised approach to your marketing. People want to feel like they’re dealing with people – not a business or enterprise.
Identify and use the right tools that reach your audience.
For example, if the business’ ICPs are most accessible via a cell phone, then that’s where you need to invest your marketing resources. While focusing on the best performing channel is key, it’s also important for businesses to take an omni-channel approach, giving customers the option engage to with and purchase from you as conveniently as possible.
Speak to your customers compliantly and personally.
In the POPIA era businesses can only communicate with customers who have opted-in. Rather than seeing this as a hindrance, realise that speaking only to those customers that have agreed to have that conversation means you can develop personalised, quality content that directly addresses their needs. Think of how Netflix and Amazon curate their product to the consumer. This can result in businesses spending less while garnering a greater return on investment and building a more perceptive and loyal customer base.
There are no silver bullets or magic wands, but focused goals, and quality delivery will keep you ahead of the game, every time.
