The Art of Marketing

2005 | Dec 7 in Marketing

By E-Myth Business Coach,

The art of marketing is the never-ending challenge to answer this question: What emotional needs do my customers have that my business could fulfill? To help you find the answer, we suggest that you start by collecting information on your customers through a variety of techniques, including conducting customer surveys and performing demographic research and analysis.

“One size fits all” is not a business strategy

No business can possibly expect to be all things to all people, and any that tries will likely have portions of their business siphoned off by specialized businesses that can better meet the needs of particular customer segments. “One size fits all” business strategies don’t work because customers tend to belong to distinct product market segments that have their own set of common characteristics, and unique needs and preferences.

So, how can you optimize your profit centers and gain a competitive advantage? It really won’t be possible until you begin to notice and distinguish the common characteristics that most of your customers possess, and to match your product offerings to the needs of the customers.

Surveying what makes your customers tick

The most important thing you can do is to start collecting as much information as you possibly can about your customers. A good idea is to create a survey that will help you find out what they have in common. Are they mostly male or female? What age ranges do they fall in? What is their education level? Are they married or single? Do they have children? If so, are the children at home, or grown and gone? Most importantly, what kind of emotional gratification are they looking for in return for their money, and what do you have to offer that can meet their emotional needs?

Research tools at your fingertips

Another tactic is to conduct research about customer demographics. The U.S. Census Bureau has a treasure trove of demographics broken down by counties and major metropolitan areas. You can find the U.S. Census Bureau website at http://quickfacts.census.gov. If you do business outside the U.S., check with local government agencies to see what information they have available.

The more accurate and complete information you have about your customers, the better able you’ll be to craft a marketing strategy to meet their needs _ and to draw more of them to your business. Now doesn’t that paint a nice picture?

Comments

1. Esi F. says:

   I know marketing research is so important, but why don't more small business owners do it? I guess I have always thought I was the best judge of what my target market wanted. If it made sense to me, why wouldn't it make sense to my target market? Since then I have been detrailed from those assumptions. I know you can pay to have target market research, but it is more money than I can spend on market research. And asking my customers directly is kind of scarey. I guess their comments would be a direct reflection of how my assumptions went wrong.

   Submitted Dec 8, 2005 3:18 PM

2. Karen P. says:

   But Esi - wouldn't you WANT to know if your assumptions are wrong? Market research doesn't have to be expensive or over-thought (an entire consultancy profession has been dedicated to making us think so). I bet you could come up with some simple and inexpensive ways to figure out who buys from you and why they choose you instead of a competitor. Think about what great decisions you could make about how to allocate your time and resources if you knew those answers...

   Submitted Dec 9, 2005 10:29 AM

3. David F. says:

   "but why don't more small business owners do it?" -- That is a question I have been asking business owners for the past few months. Generally, it comes down to time but emotionally, it comes down to "I don't want to do it." Or "I don't like doing it." I pushed the partner owners of a shoe store to start doing research in our market and they all baulked. The operations guy even said, "all the planning in the world won't help us sell more shoes." (And he also refused to read E-Myth, guess that's why we're closed.) It's just not something that people feel is important. My observation since reading E-Myth is that research, innovation, quantification and so forth are desperately needed by most small businesses. In many cases, they are too busy putting out the fires, or they don't see it as a priority at least enough to sacrifice something else. Basically, the concept scares them to death, it's too complicated, too time consuming, too scary and so many other things need to get done first. I think I know the solution but I need more time to test it. Basically, "bite sized" is what people want.

   Submitted Dec 29, 2005 1:15 PM

4. Victor L. says:

   I’m an information systems consultant. Market research makes sense to me because, as a systems analyst, amongst other things, I know you need to analyse the system first before you design a better one, or create one from scratch. However , I find that I resist doing pure market research because of the time it takes. At the end of the market research you don’t expect any sales, although this reminds me that one book I read that said that some consultants get their first sale this way. I have tried though, on prospects, not on customers. I tried with local IT Managers over the phone ‘What do you need right now more than anything else?’ (A question suggested by a book) and got nowhere. They generally answered ‘nothing.’ Later, after having a lot more of straight selling offers rejected. I mentioned it to a marketing consultant. He said it was the wrong question, and to ask what there biggest problem was. Trying this, I was amazed to find I got a much better response. However, on a test of 100 contacts of local IT Managers in companies with staff of 100-499, I got a very diverse range of responses. It was nothing like those graphs you see in trade newspapers, showing that say, 30% of the sample were interested in ’X.’ So I got nothing definite to go on. Also, when they did mention issues that were particularly appropriate for my consulting service, they weren’t interested in using an outside service. Someone has said, that companies of 100-499 employees are such very different range of companies that this was to be expected. Although I’m not sure if I could get enough companies if the range was narrowed. It seems it might have been cleverer to ask what were their 10 worst problems and then I might have got some better correlation. While I found your comment useful, it seems a bit too theoretical and removed from reality to me. It’s OK, if you have a lot of time to wait, but I don’t. I don’t just want to know what emotional needs my customers have that I can fulfil, I want to know what they want NOW. I realise you need to think long term as well, but surely not exclusively? An author in a consulting book suggests telephone calls that are initially sales calls but if rejected fall back to market research questions. I am unsure if this compromise will work. So what do you suggest might be a better way forward for me and does he E-Myth Academy recommend any publications on this?

   Submitted Jan 23, 2006 2:38 AM

5. Karen B. says:

   I guess I'm just confused about how I would find the information I need.  I'm a residential organizer and am the only one in my city.

   I believe my targets are young super busy families, and those downsizing.  Also, I want to target crafters as they are often very disorganized which makes it harder to do their crafts.  How do I locate such people?

   Submitted Aug 18, 2009 9:02 AM

6. Kandie S. says:

   To: Karen B.

   You can target the people you are looking for by looking into small towns around you. Many crafters are located in small towns like the one I live in Sonora, Ca. I moved here and was amazed at how many people came here from the bay area and bring their businesses with them. Crafters fairs are also good, because a lot of crafters sell word of mouth and work from home. They dont actually own a store. Hope I could be of help. Im just a beginning enterpenur ( spell check).

   Submitted Sep 18, 2009 3:21 PM

7. Alan W. says:

   As a general contractor, my business has gone away.  The times we are in makes it hard to do any business, let along the construction market.

   Submitted Dec 2, 2009 11:18 AM

8. Raymond R. says:

   The "new construction" market is depleted, however, the remodel market is very strong in the Sacramento and vacinity areas. 

   Incentives are what that market segment is after, as a result of the competition but try and develop an incentive program for your target market and see what happens.

   Good Luck.

   Submitted Feb 24, 2010 9:49 PM

9. Taryn H. says:

   To: Karen B.

   It sounds like I am one of those crafters you are looking for.  And what you are seeking to ask I am hoping to answer, when it comes to what I really need.  I just joined this group as an entrepreneur who is making the transition from a hobby to a lucrative business. 

   In skimming the information and comments, I am certain the emotions are a large part of the problem for dreamers of good business... Between making money and starting a business that reaches the goals or objectives that we set -in other words attaining reality- we have to be able to say I have met the needs of my customers and found out what they want. Problem is, I do believe,  we need two sets of goals, one is to fall back on a product or service that meets needs of customer while creating and perfecting the marketing of 'those other needs' that the customer has and is not even aware of.

   I a teacher by decree of providence, but that has taught me that children come with many needs... and expect those needs to be met before you can even begin to teach them.  

   So in some ways businesses are selling/providing or helping customer's 'own' a characteristic or emotion that they desperately need or  want...and that they receive through our [the businessperson's] outlet or service. After time, I think we can influence what they will purchase in future and vice versa. We will supply what they need in future, because they have spoken to us... reading/understanding the customer's language is key....the root.

   As I glance above, I think Raymond R. is saying this with the terms 'incentive program'... If this is correct, may we develop that concept in layman's terms for the home business or the start up?...or both?

   Looking at the dates, I hope I am not too late.

   Submitted Dec 25, 2010 11:09 AM

10. DESIREE F. says:

    I just opened a crime scene cleaning business in greensboro, north carolina.  My target market is anyone who has been the victim of a violent crime.  Not much market research to do other than benchmarking my competitors.  I offer more services and at better rates than my national competitors yet I have been in business for three months, it is the summer, and I still have not rec'd. any business.  Any suggestions from anyone.

    Submitted Jun 25, 2011 10:09 AM