The key to an effective marketing campaign is knowing where you stand in the eyes of your target customer.
So where do you stand?
There are three possible places.
However, regarding any particular customer, you can only ever stand in one place at any one time.
In this blog post, I will show you these three scenarios. For your marketing plan to succeed, you have to know which scenario fits you best, and then create a plan within that scenario. Your marketing plan will not succeed if you create a plan that does not align with where you actually stand in your customer’s eyes.
So here are the three scenarios.
Scenario 1: Your target customer is unaware of his problem
In this scenario, your target customer is not even aware that he has a problem. Or he may be aware of it, but does not see it as sufficiently serious as to warrant a solution.
If this is where you are positioned, your marketing plan should first be to open your target customer’s eyes to the fact that he has a problem, and also to convince him of the consequences of not taking action. Only then can you begin to market your product or service.
Here is an example.
You are a marketing consultancy, pitching your services to a potential client base that doesn’t believe in online marketing. It would be futile to approach these clients, in the first place, with a proposal for a social media marketing strategy. They don’t believe in online marketing, so they are unlikely to be persuaded by such a strategy. Your first order of business should be to convince them of the fact that online marketing is beneficial for them. You will have to show them that they can win lots of customers (and business) online. And that, without marketing online, they would be at a serious disadvantage against their competitors who are currently marketing online.
So your marketing strategy here should be: first of all, make your target customer aware of his problem.
Scenario 2: Your target customer is aware of his problem, but does not believe it can be solved with your type of product or service
Here is an example.
You sell weight loss supplements to people who wish to lose weight.
You are not in Scenario 1 above, because your target customer is already aware of his problem: he knows he needs to lose weight, and wishes to do so. Thus there is no point in running a marketing strategy trying to convince your target customer to lose weight. He knows all he needs to know about that.
The issue here is that he doesn’t believe that weight loss supplements (whether yours or someone else’s) are a healthy and effective way to lose weight. So it doesn’t make sense trying to convince him to lose weight (he already knows he should). And it doesn’t make sense trying to convince him to buy your supplements (he doesn’t trust supplements generally).
If you do decide to go after this type of customer, your primary task should be to convince him of the effectiveness and health benefits of weight loss supplements, generally, before introducing him to yours.
Scenario 3: Your target customer is aware that he needs the type of products and services that you provide, but is not convinced that he should buy from you
Let’s take the weight loss supplement example one step further.
So our customer is convinced that weight loss supplements are a healthy and effective way to lose weight. However, there are scores of such supplements on the market. Why should he buy yours, out of all the others from which he can choose?
In this scenario, your marketing plan would be to show why your product is the best one on the market for your customer. This is where you highlight the benefits to your customer if he chooses your product. You can also show him a comparison of your products to others on the market.
Basically, you do not need to convince your customer that he has a problem (as in Scenario 1), or that your type of product or service would solve his problem (as in Scenario 2). What you need do here is show him why he should buy from you.
Conclusion
Before launching your marketing plan, determine where you stand in the eyes of your target customer. Tailor your marketing strategy to the relevant scenario. Put quite simply, address your customer where he’s at.