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Connect more, sell more series
Part 3: How "On Target" is
Your Marketing?
By Michele Pariza Wacek
Now that you've gathered information about your customers and potential
customers, it's time to create a "customer profile."
A customer profile is an in-depth description of one person in your target
market. Take all the information you've collected about your target market
and create a single potential customer using that information. You might
even call it a character study. Here's an example.
Let's say your target market is composed of married women in their thirties
with small children and a full-time job. So, from that, you create a typical
customer profile — a 35-year-old woman with two small children who works
as
a loan officer at Wells Fargo and her name is Marci (giving your character
a
name is very important). She also has a dog, a husband named Larry who
works
as computer programmer and a house in the suburbs.
It doesn't matter if any of this is true or not, the point is to make this "customer
composite character" as real as possible.
Have several target markets you're focusing on? Do a composite character for
all of them.
Why do you want to do this? To start thinking in details. The more details
the better. Our minds aren't designed to think in generalities — we think
in specifics.
For instance, take a moment to think of famous characters in great
literature. Like Willy Loman in "Death of a Salesman." He's the everyman
— every salesperson. But he isn't every person — he has his own quirks, his
own personality. By focusing on one individual character, playwright Arthur
Miller has turned Willy Loman into the quintessential salesman, representing
every salesman everywhere.
Once you have your customer profile created, then it's time to make your
marketing explode.
It's time to get creative and role-play.
Role-playing has been around for just about forever. (In fact, I bet even
a
baby brontosaurus used to pretend he was a tyrannosaurus rex.) Although used
widely by actors and fiction writers, anyone can benefit from living in
someone else's skin for awhile (if nothing else, it can help free your
inhibitions and get your creativity soaring).
I myself have benefited frequently from the power of role-playing. For
instance, the main character in my second novel has cystic fibrosis — a
fatal disease where most sufferers don't live past forty. I spent so much
time in her skin that I started to think things like "Oh, I'll never live
that long" or "Too bad I won't see retirement." As though I
was the one with
cystic fibrosis.
To be honest, it was a bit unsettling, but boy could I slip into her
personality quickly. It made writing that book very easy.
Anyway, back to the power of role-playing. Talking to your customers and
sending out surveys are very helpful. But by living in your customers' skin
for even an hour, you can take that understanding one step further and
actually connect emotionally with your target market.
Here's how this works:
- Read your composite character again. And read all your
supporting materials and information.
- Now pretend to be Marci. Actually live in her skin.
Think to yourself: What would Marci do in this situation? What would she
eat for breakfast?
What would she think? How would she act? Really try to get inside her skin.
Don't
get discouraged if this doesn't come naturally. It takes awhile to get the
knack of it. Try this exercise for a few minutes over a few days — it
should get easier each time you try it.
- Once you start to feel comfortable with this exercise, then
you can ask your "target market character" questions. What do you really want
from our
products? What needs do you want fulfilled? What are you looking for? Ask
yourself while you're ³in character" and see what answers bubble
up. It may
help to write down your questions and answers.
You can also do this as a
group exercise, with people "acting" different
target market characters.
By really getting to know your target market, you can discover what matters
to them and how you can meet their needs. Connecting emotionally with your
target audience is a powerful tool. It will give you a huge edge over your
competition.
And if you want to learn how to sell to them, then check out Connect More,
Sell More, Part 4 — Talk the Talk (and Boost your Sales).
Copyright 2004 Michele Pariza Wacek.
 About
the Author | More
by Michele Pariza Wacek
Michele Pariza Wacek owns Creative Concepts and Copywriting,
a writing, marketing and creativity agency. She offers two free e-newsletters
that help subscribers
combine their creativity with hard-hitting marketing and copywriting principles
to become more successful at attracting new clients, selling products and
services and boosting business. She can be reached at www.writingusa.com.
09/19/04
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