Although a cliché, it is true that for the most part companies exist to solve problems and serve their customers. Profit is the lifeblood of any business and capital comes from the people you serve. A cliché that isn’t always necessarily true in business is, to make a large impact you need to cater to as large a market as possible. On the contrary, having a sizable audience is not always a good thing. Having a large customer base that does not appreciate your goods or services, feels unsatisfied, and yet continues to engage you because of your competitive advantage in the market is usually a waste of time. A wise entrepreneur will foster relationships with customers who are genuinely interested in their offerings and brand.
Properly targeting the right customers can make your efforts much more effective and efficient. It starts by knowing who your right customers are. So, how do you define the “right” customers? The right customers are those who are loyal and generally help your business. Loyal customers are those who repeatedly purchase your goods or services or subscribe to your offering. In addition, they help your marketing efforts by becoming social advocates for your brand. They also are repeat customers, requiring no cost of acquisition to make the sale. If you are looking for exposure through Internet marketing, what better way than a customer recommending your products on their blog or Yelp? With the rise of interactions from social media sites, any good praise helps increase exposure thus increasing chances of conversion.
John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing fame states in his book, “When you properly target your clients, you will discover that you no longer have to work with jerks… Clients who don’t respect the value you bring, don’t pay on time, and don’t do their part will drag your marketing business down faster than any other business dynamic.”
Keeping your great customers happy and “firing” the rest frees up valuable time to improve existing relationships and seek out additional good customers. This allows you to focus your marketing efforts specifically on those customers you would like to attract creating a synergistic loop that ideally will increase sales volume and sales total per transaction.
