Brand: Find your ‘people’ for sustained business growth
Whatever your goal is in business, with the constant demands and pressure, the pursuit for optimum performance, continuous improvement, bigger and better results with less resources and time, targets to be met, KPIs, private and public success, promotion, status and achievement, we‘ve forgotten one of the main reasons for being in business in the first place and the true life force of enterprise – your customer, your ‘people’.
Sales automation and online technological advances, while both valuable and relevant, have eroded the customer experience so much so that the experience is often cold, impersonal and detached. This, all in the pursuit of mechanisation of lead generation and driving down of unit costs. And so the great pendulum swings back the other way to focus on people, congruence and authenticity. So stay ahead of the curve and like most of the most successful businesses and entrepreneurs ‘know your customer’ for sustained growth.
‘Find your people’, those who you connect with and are ‘in sync’ with and who would climb mountains to shout your business name. Caution though. You will not connect with everyone. Nor should you set out too. Pleasing and appealing to everyone just leaves you exhausted, empty and pays little dividend. Your business goal is to find those people who will gladly tell others how awesome you are. Find your niche. Find your people. These are your walking, talking brand adverts. Identify how you help your customers BE less busy, BE more successful, BE less stressed, BE more productive or simply ‘BE’ and see yours and their business grow to the next level. Working smarter means building a smarter brand – one that is focused on people, values and delivering value.
When asked, most businesses ‘think’ they know their ‘ideal’ customer. They think they have a pretty good handle on them. They then relegate said customer to some standard stock vision or ‘ideal’. They become just a number. A dollar sign. Once ‘acquired’ the focus quickly shifts and skews to other ‘more pressing needs’ like actually ‘doing the work’, building systems to manage demand, stimulating cashflow, an unquenchable drive for ‘results’ and ‘performance’ and increasing ‘transactions’ over satisfying the needs and wants of the customer.
As humans I’ve noticed we are skilled in making the simple much more complex than it needs to be. Consequently we make business more complex too. Start by making business simple again. When it comes to your brand and marketing, keep it simple by first identifying your ideal customer personality. ‘Know your customer’ is your first step. The benefit is you identify who your focus is on, you clarify who you’re actually talking to and you uncover if you’re a ‘good fit’ – no time wasting. Second – deeply define your ideal customer profile to reveal insights that engage and compel customers to take positive, meaningful action. It’s the smarter way to market your business and build a smart brand.
So get laser-focused on your ideal customer to take your brand and business to the next level.
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I hope you gained some benefit or learned something new, insightful or useful.
As The Brand Entrepreneur, I believe in helping busy business owners and savvy entrepreneurs to build smarter brands by deeply defining their ‘ideal’ customer with The ‘My Avatar’ Workshop. Successful brands in the future care about customers, not branding. I believe that future is now. I’m passionate and focused on creating brand stories & design assets that help brands get ‘in sync’ and connected to customers they ‘care’ about.