When Sarah McIntyre first mentioned to me "Random Acts of Marketing" I knew exactly what she meant.
We all get distracted, but I tend to think that entrepreneurs are worst than most. Many times have I gone down one rabbit hole after another, forever chasing the latest marketing idea - all at the expense of my long-forgotten marketing plan.
I get little consolation in the fact that it's a common problem and one that many entrepreneurs experience.
Sometimes we need to remember that just because a particular marketing approach is working well for one person, it doesn't mean it's the best approach for us.
How do we figure out the best marketing approaches for our business?
We have to discover the journey people go through before finding us and becoming our customers. (AKA Buyer's Journey)
People don't just wake up one morning, decide to buy something and then go immediately to your website with their credit card in hand. There is a lot of activity before that.
By knowing your customer journey you can plan your content marketing accordingly.
In today's podcast we explore:
Conducting Research Interviews
As you'll see from the interview, Sarah is a big advocate of conducting Customer Research Interviews (as am I).
Sarah's recommendation for interview format is to use the 3 stages of your customers journey
- Awareness Stage - Questions relating to how the person came aware of their need for your service. What were the circumstances? What was the trigger?
- Consideration Stage - Questions on the process or thinking they went through in order to find a suitable service or solution to their problem.
- Decision Stage - How did the person make a decision? What were the deciding factors? Who was involved in the decision?
Stop doing Random Acts of Marketing, "You've got to come back with your marketing to the very basics of who your customer is, what your product offer is and what your business is trying to achieve." - Sarah McIntyre
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Conducting customer research can sound like a huge pain in the neck and a massive endeavour. The reality is that with a well thought out plan, it's both easy and enjoyable.
Sure, it will take a little time, but it doesn't need to be done all at once and they're quite fun to run.
Best of all, you'll gain some interesting insights into what makes your marketing work AND your customers will know you take them seriously.
What are you waiting for? Let me know how you get on.
Note: Some of the resources below may be affiliate links, meaning I get paid a commission (at no extra cost to you) if you use that link to make a purchase.
