Producing a successful marketing campaign isn’t always an easy task, even for the savviest small business owner. Our Town America can help local businesses get started by suggesting techniques to identify your key customer base.
Determining a key customer base is the first step to developing a marketing strategy that converts. A customer base is the bulk of any business’ clientele — it’s the customer demographic that regularly buys your products and services. If a business markets to its customer base, it has a higher likelihood of turning first-time visitors into loyal patrons and, of course, customer retention helps drive profits. Approximately 65% of a company’s business can be attributed to existing customers.
Identifying your key customer base can help businesses plan their marketing strategy. If a brand attracts millennials, ramping up online marketing efforts will be essential. On the other hand, seniors may respond to a tried-and-true approach, like radio or newspaper ads. Understanding your key customer base can help separate a business from the competition and offer customers a valuable experience.
Many business owners have an idea of the crowd they want to tap into to drive sales. Simply guessing might not be enough to get the job done. It’s vital to do the research. Whether a business is already open or the owners are delving into a business plan for a new venture, determining the key customer base will help drive sales.
Our Town America has 50 years of experience helping small businesses attract new customers. Over the years, we’ve learned a few techniques to identify your key customer base to add loyal customers.
Visit the Competition. Identify competitors and take a hard look at their audience. Visit similar local businesses to find out what makes your brand unique. If your business is already serving customers, consider creating a survey to help understand why customers prefer your establishment over others.
Conduct Market Research. If a business is still in the planning stages, conducting market research can help you identify a target demographic. Learning consumer behavior and economic trends helps reduce risk and improve profits. Make sure to take advantage of local resources, like the local chamber of commerce, to determine trends from other business owners in the community. Networking with other entrepreneurs can provide valuable insights to help identify a customer base. Businesses that are already operating can analyze existing customers to determine the characteristics of their customer base.
Build an Ideal Customer. The next step is to compile your research and put pen to paper. Define your products and services from your customer’s point of view and create an ideal target customer. Be specific; your ideal customer should include demographic and behavioral details.
Target Your Key Customer Base
Identifying your key customer base takes the guesswork out of your marketing strategy. Once you’ve done the research and determined your unique selling proposition and target demographic, you can create a marketing strategy that converts. Our Town America has a variety of marketing tools designed to reach potential customers before they even discover your competition.
New Mover Marketing. New Mover Marketing is a niche, lucrative market. Roughly 27.1 million people relocated in 2021. Decades of data have repeatedly demonstrated that the new mover demographic is highly likely to experiment with unfamiliar businesses as they need to find new hair salons, healthcare providers, local pizzerias and more. New Mover Marketing takes building your customer base to the next level.
Our Town America is the nation’s premier New Mover Marketing franchise. As part of our program, we send new movers a Welcome Package filled with proven one-time-use housewarming offers introducing them to local businesses. We use proprietary lists that are more than 95% accurate to help local businesses reach new residents as they explore their new area.
Direct Mail Postcard Marketing. Even as companies invest in fancy websites and roll out video marketing, any omni-channel marketing effort should include direct mail as it continually generates a solid return on investment. Consumers get overstimulated from crowded email inboxes, which only adds to the effectiveness of direct mail campaigns. Despite having a firm grip on wireless devices, trackable direct mail campaigns like ours have shown an uptick in both foot traffic and sales – proving that consumers appreciate tangible offers.
Blanketing a neighborhood with postcards does drive traffic, but sending postcards to your key customer base is usually most effective. Businesses can target their direct mail postcard campaign by a variety of demographic data, including age, income or household size.
Technology, such as QR Codes, has helped move direct mail into the digital age by enabling small businesses to create a seamless call-to-action on their direct mail postcard. The QR code can lead to an explanatory video of your business and services or simply to your business’ website. The possibilities are limitless.
Customer Service Solidifies Loyalty
New Mover Marketing will get new customers to visit your business, but providing stellar customer service to turn them into loyal customers is up to you. At least 96% of customers believe customer service plays an important role in helping them form brand loyalty, according to research conducted by Forbes. A new report from Salesforce reveals that 88% of patrons believe the customer service experience they receive at a business is just as important as the product or services.
Expand Customer Base with New Residents
If you’ve identified your key customer base and are ready to create a marketing strategy to help you drive sales, contact Our Town America to find out more about how New Mover Marketing or Postcard Marketing can boost profits at your business.
Brittany is the head of Our Town America’s corporate marketing department. She specializes in digital and print media, social media, and public relations.
