3 Key Ways To Make Your Marketing Strategy Customer-centric

The key to developing an effective marketing strategy doesn’t lie in analyzing data or researching your competition, but in focusing on your customers’ needs. By putting your customer at the heart of your marketing strategy, you let them know you’re the firm for them.

Create buyer personas – Raw data can’t drive an effective marketing strategy, but it can definitely help. Use what you know about your ideal clients to create profiles for two to five client types. Depending on your specialty, you might have “John the commercial real estate investor” or “Ann the rental property developer.” List what you know about their demographics, psychographics, goals, and habits related to their professional and personal lives. Well fleshed-out buyer personas give you a clear view of the people you’re trying to reach and build a rapport with.

Personalize your communication – These days, just using software to stick your prospect’s first name in your emails is weak effort. There are much more effective ways to get the right message to the right prospect. The first step is to segment your email list according to the services they’re interested in, as well as factors such as location or budget. To further tailor your message to each prospect’s interests, set up event-triggered email campaigns. The emails could be triggered by a search your prospect performed on your website, a free report they downloaded or even a blog post they read.

Grow with your client in mind – When you’re ready to expand into new services and specialties, get input from your client base first. Whether through surveys, focus groups or one-to-one chats with your favorite clients, find out whether your plans are in line with what your current and potential clients need and want. With the insight you gain, you’ll be able to develop new services that show your clients you care enough to listen to them. Better yet, you’ll avoid sinking time and money into something that won’t sell.