“I know, that I know nothing.”
Sokrates, 469 – 399 v. Chr
Who is actually our customer?
It is surprising that the customer is an unknown entity in many companies.
This is due to the following reasons, among others:
- The product is too much in the foreground. A very typical attitude in many companies, especially start-ups (in my experience), goes something like this:
“Our product is so great; the customer just has to buy it.” - Too little or no customer analysis is done before the product launch / company foundation.
- Too much judgement is made from one’s own experience with the product.
- Later on, the possibilities for customer analysis/ dialogue are not or only insufficiently used.
So how do you avoid too strong a product focus and analyse the market successfully?
- It is important to segment the (potential) customers well. For this, the following important segmentation criteria on customers and target groups should definitely be included:
- Socio-demographics
- organisational form and size – (this is very important for B2B customer analysis)
- Geographical information, such as the company headquarters
- Industry, number of employees and stage of development (important for start-ups)
- Decision-makers or co-decision-makers
- Customer behaviour: How often and at what intervals do they buy?
- Purchasing cycles, seasonal fluctuations
- And for advanced users: the media usage behaviour of the target group:
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- Where does the target group inform itself and exchange information?
- Which media does the target group use?
- Are they on certain discussion forums?
- Do they use LinkedIn or other social media platforms? (Note: The age of the target group is also relevant here!)
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First of all, a quantification of the target group should be in the foreground, also in the B2B area, as this decisively determines the future approach.
- How large is my target group?
- Can it be clearly outlined or should it be segmented into further subgroups?
- Am I dealing with many decision-makers in many companies – or with a handful of decision-makers whom I can reach through a personal approach?
This step, as banal as it may sound, is not thought through in many companies.
The sad and costly result: marketing campaigns according to the motto “a lot helps a lot”, which, however, miss the actual target group and come to nothing.
The next step is to take a closer look at the target group in qualitative terms. The use of so-called personas is interesting here. This term from online marketing refers to fictitious profiles from the target group.
Similar to a profiler, one or more personality profiles of the customers are created.
These outline as precisely as possible in whose life realities the product can be positioned. Well-made personas are authentic and lifelike.
This also has advantages for communication: the previously anonymous customer becomes more tangible as a target group and the marketing strategy more targeted.
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