Online Businesses and Internet Marketing

Rule 5.
Study Your Customers And Get Ready To Know Them.

There is a different between describing your customers, and "getting to know" your customers.

" describing your customers" depend on (age, sex, location, decision-makers, vertical markets, company-size, or revenue).
In other words, "demographic data".
The demographic data is very important to describing your customers, and to make some basics lines of your marketing campaign, but doesn't help you "get to know" them.

Psycho graphic data, on the other hand, helps us understand the "why" behind the demographics. Psychographics focuses on attributes like personality, values, attitudes, interests, or lifestyles.
Psychographic profiles are really helpful when you are trying to define more personalized and targeted messages and campaigns.

Finally, there are behavioral attributes. these attributes refer to a person's behavior - or their actions or reactions to different products, messages, offers, etc. Behaviors can be either conscious or subconscious and provide an important final piece of information needed to "get to know" your customers.

keep it in your mind that:

Demographics = Who
Psychographics = Why
Behaviors = What

Rule 6.
Target Your Messages

like the old saying in the real estate business - "The three most important things in real estate are location, location, location."
In marketing the three most important things are targeting, targeting and targeting.

To create targeted messages, you first have to identify your audience - who are you talking to? You can use a variety of data (demographic, psycho graphic and behavioral - refer to Rule 5) to
divide your customers into distinct groups based on similar characteristics, needs or actions. By design, each group has fairly similar needs, so you can assume they will respond consistently to a given marketing tactic. They are likely to have
common reactions, feelings and ideas about a specific message. They are likely to respond in a fairly predictable way to a marketing campaign focused on a specific product, sold at a given price, and distributed and promoted in a certain way.

Use this kind of targeting to improve the focus and impact of your marketing activities. Understanding how different groups of customers perceive their problems helps you define your messages more clearly. Understanding behavior helps you to select the right marketing activities to reach your customers.

the bottom line:
You can sell more efficiently because you are targeting the right customer with the right product, with the right message in the right way.

Rule 7.
How You Can Be Heard?

A Persona is a detailed account of the daily life of a fictional customer.
but how we can use this advantage?

Statistics and data are useful in helping us paint a picture of who your customers are, what they value and how you can expect them to behave. But at some level it is very impersonal. You talk about your customers in very generic terms. You don't connect with them as individuals. The only way to be heard is to make this data more personal. "Persona-based marketing" goes beyond simple data.

Persona-based marketing describes who a prospect or customer is, by answering questions such as: What keeps this person awake at night? How do they spend their time? How do they like to receive information?

Personas create a dramatic, concrete portrait of your customers. It allows you to build a marketing message that's relevant to them and their lives. A Persona is a detailed account of the daily life of a fictional customer. It is usually written in real-life terms, even going so far as to give a personal name to each Persona. Persona descriptions typically include:

• A day in the life scenario.
• Daily work activities.
• Household and leisure activities.
• Goals, fears, and aspirations.
• Computer skills, knowledge, and abilities.
• Market influence.
• Demographic attributes (age, marital status, religion, etc.)
• Psycho graphics attributes (lifestyle, values, beliefs)
• Technology attitudes.
• Communication methods.
• Cultural considerations.
• Personal quotes.

Rule 8.
Look To the Big Picture And Always Be Aware Of What Happening Around You.

"The Big picture" mean be aware of what happening and what your competition are doing or Planning to do.

Your customers have many options. It is up to you to communicate to them in context of the overall universe of possibilities - the market in which you operate. Your job is to convince customers that your product, service or solution is obviously the best choice for them.

Understanding how your company, product or service stacks up against the competition is a logical step towards creating a message that is convincing and compelling.

you must know your relative strengths and weaknesses and positioning your offer accordingly. It's important to look beyond the walls of your cubicle and get a sense of what is going on around you. It is sometimes really easy to get caught up in the internal perceptions of the market.

Look always To the Big picture and always be aware of what happening around you.



hope you enjoyed the lesson and find it useful.
see you soon with new rules in marketing.