Know Your Audience / Know Your Customer

I was challenged by the need to have principles for Marketing when studying for a Masters degree. Michael Porter, the business strategy guru, stated that

“The underlying principles of strategy are enduring, regardless of technology or the pace of change.”

This recognises that the ways that businesses need to communicate will change – let’s face it, many of us remember our first website, then it was video on a disc, then video on the website, then social, then an app, then the website on a mobile, then media on the go… Things change and will continue to. It is a challenge and a cost, to keep up, but we need to. Which do we chose?

Porter suggests that there is value in having a principle – if you focus on a principle the choice of technology becomes a secondary concern.

I have a principle that in all my Marketing Communications I seek to know my audience / customer before I create anything. There are valuable reasons for this: if I know my customer, I know who I sell to, I know who else I might be able to sell to; if I know my customer, I know what they like and, therefore, deliver more services (/products) to satisfy their demands; if I know them, I know where they hang out and what mediums they use to buy and, therefore, deploy the right tools to get their attention.

In other words, through the principle of seeking to know my customer, I can choose the right technology that fits with my customer’s lifestyle. This is great – good, effective and useful mobile apps are expensive! If I can get away with a responsive website to provide the experience needed, then great – I am happy and, importantly, so is my audience. If I know that my audience is no longer on Facebook, but prefers Instagram, I can target my media campaigns and advertising more effectively.

The point is that it should be on every business leader’s radar to keep in touch with their customer – knowing your customer and audience, allows them to set the pace of change, to define what your service is and how you deliver it. Achieve this and you will keep your customer happy and succeed.

Do you have principles? Do you agree or otherwise?! Leave your comments below.

 

However, you need to know what they think! Headway Marketing helps businesses engage with their customers more closely – enquire about this service.