Connecting with your audience in business is one of the smartest and most important things you can do if you want amazing results. You can’t just ‘build it and they will come’. You need to make sure you know who you are creating your product or service for before you can get incredible results. Your audience certainly won’t be everyone in the world, but with this guide, you can make sure you connect with them and notice the difference.
- Define Your Audience
Start by defining your audience. You need to know exactly who your audience is so you can then target them effectively with your various marketing materials. Creating a number of consumer profiles can help give you a clearer picture of who you are trying to talk to and resonate with. For example:
- What is the age range?
- What’s their relationship status?
- What do they earn?
- What are their lifestyles like?
- Do they have children?
- What do they like/dislike?
- What do they struggle with?
- Figure Out How You Can Better Resonate With Them
You can also use your idea of your audience to influence your own brand voice. This can help you to resonate better with them, and ‘speak their language.’ Of course, trying too hard isn’t a good idea. However, a consistent brand voice can make a huge difference to your efforts.
- Personalize Your Communications With Them
You communicate with your audience a variety of different ways: over social media, the phone, and over emails. Personalizing your communications where possible should help you to get better results. Use their name, and try to remember things they have told you so you can provide a better service. Using customer relationship management software will help with this (you can’t be expected to remember everything about each and every customer you work with). Remembering things about them and further personalizing your interactions will make them feel more important and cared for by your business.
- Be Authentic
Authenticity is crucial for just about any business. Your audience can tell if you’re not authentic. This won’t stop them from working with businesses who aren’t all that authentic, but this can have a much better effect. So, how do you begin creating a more authentic company culture?
- Hire nice people who care about what you do.
- Motivate your team.
- Be honest when you make mistakes, or if you don’t feel you can do something that has been asked of you.
- Pay attention to the little things.
- Tell your brand story.
- Introduce your team.
- Let people know why you do this.
- Keep the promises you make.
- Know The Important Metrics To Look For
Knowing what metrics to look for can give you a better idea of what you need to improve on, and how you might better engage your audience. For example, do you know what reach vs impressions would mean to your business? If not, now is the time to learn! Your metrics are a huge look into what is happening behind the scenes so you need to know what to look for and do your best to understand them.
- Respond Quickly
Quick response times are crucial in this day and age – people have very little patience, and they don’t want to wait very long for a response at all. Make sure you have people manning your social media, emails, and phones so that your audience doesn’t need to wait long for an answer to their question. If you can’t always be there, make sure you send out a notification message to let them know you have received their query and that you will respond ASAP.
- Make It Easy For Them
Make it easy for your audience to contact you or order from you. Have a mobile website, as most people browse the web using their mobile device these days. You could even have an app. Figure out how to simplify the process!
- Go The Extra Mile
Figure out how you can go the extra mile for your audience, too. Could you provide discounts? Freebies? Loyalty cards? Advice? You don’t always need to spend money to provide extra value for them.
- Provide Relevant Content
Relevant content can help you to establish yourself as an expert in your niche and will give your audience the confidence to work with you. They’ll see that you know what you’re talking about, and appreciate that you’re giving this information away for free! It might seem scary, but it will do your business the world of good. Don’t be too precious about what you know.
