Whether in email, your website, or even social media posts, it’s easy to fall into the trap of talking about your business. After all, shouldn’t you tell them how good you are? Why they should choose your company over others?
Of course you should. But not until they feel like you understand their pain, their needs, their desires. This understanding is the heart of customer-centric marketing.
Let’s imagine you’re on a first date. And the person you’re with just won’t shut up about themselves. Yadda, yadda, yadda. On and on about how wonderful they are. And how exciting their life is. Yadda, yadda.
Are you bored? YES! Do you want to leave? YES! And if this was some piece of marketing rather than a real, live human being…do you think you’d stick around? NO.
Now, let’s imagine a different date. One filled with what I call “really-me-too’s.”
"I love sushi." "Oh really? Me too! My favorite spot is this little place over on 34th." "Hey, I've been there! They have great maki." "I know! We should meet there for dinner sometime."
Do you see the connection forming? Hasn’t the likelihood of a second date increased dramatically? That’s the power of knowing your customer!
Know Your Customer
“Your customer doesn’t care how much you know until they know how much you care”
Damon Richards
Crafting your message to a particular market helps it resonate with them. They automatically feel you understand their problem. And, therefore, they trust you to have the solution.
And how do you get to know your ideal customer? You need to delve deep into your current customers!
You’ll want to collect both demographic and psychographic information. From age, gender, and relationship status to career, hobbies, and interests—and write it up as if the character were a real person. Consider their goals, challenges, biggest fears, and wildest dreams.
Use Their Language in Customer-Centric Marketing
Thinking of your audience as a single person helps craft your marketing message. It needs to speak “as a friend” would. Avoid falling into business-speak. Because this language means little to your customer.
If you have a golfing buddy, you talk in golf-speak. Even when you’re not talking about golf.
For example, you might respond to “How’s it going?” with “Oh man, it was a sand trap day!” That would mean little to someone who doesn’t understand the frustration of trying to escape a sand trap on a golf course.
Now I’m not suggesting that you resort to jargon. But understanding the way your customers think and talk is critical to making them feel comfortable with you.
Talk About Benefits Not Features
In marketing, we don’t sell the thing. We sell the thing behind the thing. You see, we don’t sell features…we sell benefits. And though this idea is simple, it’s also profound.
And there’s a little trick you can do in order to get to the underlying benefit. It’s a series of “so what?” questions.
Think about the last time you purchased a computer…
The salesman says: It has an 8 core i7 processor with a graphics card and 16 gigs of ram.
So what? Well it’ll be super fast and the graphics will have its own memory.
So what? Which means you’ll be able to load programs without lagging.
So what? Which means you’ll be able to finish work faster and with less frustration.
So what? Which means you can have more time for friends and family.
Now you’re talking! Buying this computer will make work faster & less frustrating. Giving you more time with your friends and family.
Using “You” to Make It Personal
It’s very easy to fall into “we-ville.” We sell organic t-shirts in a variety of earth-friendly colors. But you want to switch that focus from the business to the customer.
So maybe, “You’ll enjoy our comfy, organic t-shirts. Especially knowing that all colors are earth-friendly.”
Just switching out a majority of the “we” for “you” will change your focus to customer-centric marketing rather than business-centric. A good rule of thumb is to use the word “you” twice as much as the words “me” and “I” or “we” and “us”.
Telling Stories in Customer-Centric Marketing
People love stories because they create human connections. Think of the last gathering you attended. Wasn’t it filled with stories? Funny stories, scary stories, nostalgic stories—our lives are full of them.
Here’s the thing: stories are not only fun to tell around the table at Thanksgiving. There’s actual science behind the bonding effect of a good story. Emotional stories trigger a particular hormone (oxytocin). This hormone increases trust between the listener and the storyteller.
And what stories does your business have to tell? How about your customers? Testimonials about how your product or service made a difference in their life. Those are the most powerful stories you can tell.
Conclusion
Now you may be wondering how this all applies to web design. You may think I haven’t talked about design at all.
Well, I have been talking about design all along. Because you see…
It’s all connected.
For the vast majority of businesses, web design should simply be an extension of the copy. The functional aspects make it easy to consume the copy…to find what you want, when you want it. And the graphics should support the emotion of the copy as well as help convey the overall message of the business.
Too many times, web designers get fancy schmancy with their designs. Because it looks cool. Or it’s fun to do. Or they want to be known for their artistry.
But for a business, a lot of fancy fluff will just bog down your loading times (affecting your search engine rankings!) and be a distraction to your prospects.
And that’s why I like to focus on web design along with web copy. Together they are a powerful one-two punch for your business. In the end, the sale is what really matters.
If you’re interested in how I build website & copy together, shoot me a message by completing the form here. And we’ll talk about how customer-centric marketing AND web design can increase sales, improve customer retention and reduce costs.