Peter Drucker said, “A business exists to create a customer.”
Customer-centric marketing is redundant.
A lot of people confuse marketing with advertising. Advertising is only a part of the marketing mix. Experienced ad folks know, the last thing you want to do for your client is a good ad.
Marketing is first and foremost about understanding who’s your potential customer. Understanding not only their demographics, but also their needs and optimally their wants and desires.
When you understand what they want and how important it is that need be filled, you can develop the appropriate products and services.
When you understand how important it is to your customer that those needs be fulfilled you can price your offering in a manner in alignment with its perceived value.
Where you offer your products and services depends upon your customers are.
Simply put your products and services need to be a solution to your customers “problems”. Your price needs to equate a valuable exchange in your customer’s mind. Your customers need to be able to get your offering whether they come to you or you go to them, they need access.
Once these issues have been dealt with then you can communicate the offer in a manner that gives your customer the factual and emotional information they need to make a decision.
If the customer isn’t at the center of your thinking you’re not marketing, you’re trying to sell.
A few parting questions:
Do you like being sold?
Do you think your customers do?
Let me encourage you to look at who you want to do business with and ask yourself, “Does what we do matter to these people?”
Then regardless of the answer, ask yourself, “How can we better understand their needs, so we can become indispensable?
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