Getting Inside Your Clients’ Head

We are all individuals with our own views, expectations and limitations. As a business have you stopped to consider things from the perspective of your clients, prospects and employees? How are they likely to react to your latest news, marketing campaign, product launch or any other activity?

On Friday, my 5-year old came running out of school with a massive grin; Max the Bear was coming to stay for the weekend. Max is the class bear and each weekend he goes to a child’s home to join in with their family activities which are then reported in Max’s diary through a combination of photos, drawings and writing.

Whilst discussing this with my son, we decided that as it’s Max’s diary, it should be written from Max’s perspective. After all, how a bear views the world could be very different to a 5-year old child. I wasn’t entirely sure how well this would work, however, after a couple of activities I can honestly say that Max started to express his own opinions about whether he wanted to join in. For example at a birthday party Max was scared that the other children would hurt him as he was smaller than them, so he sat on the side watching until he was happy to join in.

The same principal needs to be applied in your business.

“Getting inside your client’s head” helps you understand what makes them tick, how they view your business and how they are likely to respond to various events. When you create an avatar for your “ideal client”, all of your marketing activity can then be created with this person in mind. This is all about them, not about you!

Consider an IT company providing support to small businesses. Let’s say their ideal client is “Bob”, the owner of a small company who is involved in running all aspects of the company. Bob is always rushing around making sure the business is operating as efficiently as possible and has very little time to spend understanding how the IT works, he just needs to know that it works. As a small business owner, Bob often works outside normal office hours, so he is concerned about having IT issues and not having support available. He is therefore looking for a company to look after all his IT requirements and get his business back up and running if and when anything goes wrong with his IT.

Bob has been told about 2 local companies that offer IT Support for small businesses so looks at their websites to find out more. Which company do you think Bob would be more likely to approach regarding his needs?

Company A

The website looks professional and includes lots of technical information. The case studies and testimonials focus on larger companies and how the company has helped to support IT departments within organisations.

Company B 

Uses clear and easy-to-understand language and includes case studies and testimonials from companies of a similar size to “Bob’s”. The site looks clean, is easy to navigate and each page displays clear contact details including an out-of-hours number for 24-7 support.

It’s clear to me that Bob would choose to contact Company B. They have understood the main concerns for small business owners like Bob such as lack of time and the need for 24-7 support and demonstrated how they have helped similar businesses.

If you would like to discuss how Enterprise Marketing Solutions can help you “get inside your client’s head” to help your business grow, give us a call today.  

Karen Munson is Strategic Officer at Enterprise Marketing Solutions and contactable on 01296 695635 or Karen.munson@enterprisemarekting.co.uk.