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(Article first published in January '09. It has been modified slightly to suit its publication on our site)
I am sure you would agree that you are an expert in your field. Whether you are an electrician, plumber, accountant or solicitor, or simply a business owner, everyone is an expert in their business. So let's call that "What You Know". You may spend a great deal of time gaining greater knowledge on a given subject. Some of you may dedicate some time and money on marketing campaigns to promote your business, but how many owners spend time finding out "What You Don't Know".
By this I mean finding out more about their customers (and potential customers) and what their customers think of their website, logo, products, services, advertising, etc.
Let me put it this way; let's say you own a retail outlet and in your shop you sell category A, B, C and D of products. Over time you find that you sell 70% of category C products with category A, B and D making up the rest between them.
When asked, very few business owners in this situation could answer a specific question I posed to them; being: "Why do you think that category C outsells your other categories so dramatically?
The answer could be obvious or quite obscure:
- Perhaps Category C takes up 70% of the space in the shop
- Perhaps your shop has gained a reputation for selling products in category C and people don't think of you as an obvious choice for anything else
- Perhaps your branding or marketing/advertising materials attract specific types of customers that tend to buy category C products
- Perhaps the stock purchased for the other categories has missed the mark in terms of quality or price bracket to be of interest to your customers
It seems impossible to determine the answer, but it's not. There is a common thread, which runs through all of the above: we all see the world as we want to see it, or in some cases become disciplined or conditioned to see it.
This means that as a business owner, your judgement on a number of key areas cannot really be trusted, so you need to get second opinions. Forget your spouse, family or close friends, they will only tell you what you want to hear. So you need to ask business acquaintances or even customers to tell you the truth. So whichever of the below you are planning, ask them some key questions:
- Advertising
Show them the ad for a few seconds and ask them to tell you what they remember about it, then let them review it at length and ask them if it was interesting and if they feel they would call you to order from you.
- A New Logo
What does the logo "say" to them? Who do they think it appeals to? (women, men, kids, teens, adults, conservatives or modern thinkers?)
- A Leaflet
Ask them to tell you what they first see in the leaflet (is it what you hoped they would see first?). Do they like the offer? What impression does the leaflet make? Show them some other leaflets and ask them where yours stacks up in terms of quality and message.
- A Website
Do they like how it looks? Is the content relevant and interesting? Ask them to find the information on a particular product or service and then observe as they navigate the site. Could they find it easily or did they get lost. Finally, ask them to contact you through the site, does it work as you expected (and do you receive the email)?
- A new product category
What do they think of the product? Is it in their price range? If it's a consumable, how often would they buy it? Where would they normally think of buying something like it?
These are just a few of the activities that you can do to find out more about what your customers think of you. There are many more and what should be clear to you by now is that to spend money on advertising and leaflet drops without gathering this information means that you are "shooting in the dark".
Franco De Bonis has worked in the field of sales and marketing promotion since 1990 and was most recently the global marketing manager for a major international technology company before setting up DG Group in January 2007.
DG Group is dedicated to delivering all the marketing solutions any company may require. Whether it's a website or leaflets and brochures, or even some product packaging; DG Group will manage the whole project and even provide guidance along the way.
The content in this section is the original creation of DG Group and is protected by copyright. You may use this content on your site or in other materials providing you acknowledge DG Group as the author and include a link our site.
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