Whether you’re the owner of a small business that’s just starting up or a multinational conglomerate that’s got employees in the thousands, the basic rules of marketing your products and services stay the same. One of those rules tends to be easily forgotten with the overwhelming amount of media available to us as business owners, but it’s key to how we can connect with an audience that’s interested in what we offer: paying attention to how customers communicate.

There’s an article at the Intuit Small Business Blog that covers this topic and emphasizes the importance of understanding the communications methods that your customers use. It starts with some advice from Shannon Belew, author of The Art of Social Selling:
“Today, you have to do more than just ‘market to’ customers…to be most effective, you need to open a dialogue and help build a meaningful relationship between customer and brand. Understanding communications style or preferences helps guide you to the best channel for each of your various customer types.”
It’s not enough to throw together an advertising campaign for whatever medium you’ve determined will have the best chance at reaching your audience. Today, with all of the social platforms available to us as business owners, connecting with our customers and opening up a dialogue isn’t just convenient – it’s expected. That’s why it’s so important to learn how our customers are communicating.
Here’s another snippet from the article:
Push vs. Pull Marketing
In 2013, more than 50 percent of time U.S. consumers spent with online retailers was done using a mobile device. If your customers rely heavily on mobile communications, you may need to switch from traditional push marketing to pull marketing.
In push marketing, businesses place their messaging in front of consumers and hope they respond. An example of this is direct mail.
In pull marketing, your marketing is more viral and naturally more engaging. An example of this is a Facebook campaign in which you invite people to share an image of themselves (such as a selfie using your product) and encourage them to share it with those in their network, too, which gains you greater exposure.
Mobile consumers are naturally suited to pull marketing.
What’s important to remember is that it’s not necessary to immediately revisit your marketing strategy and ensure it has, say, a mobile aspect, just because the industry is growing. Depending on your industry, there’s a chance that your customer base isn’t the type to turn to mobile devices for research or shopping when they’re looking for what you offer. Again: this is why it’s so essential to pay close attention to how your customers do communicate, as not doing so could result in a major misfire when you launch a new marketing campaign.
The article also talks about knowing what type of method to use to directly communicate with customers (phone, email, Twitter etc.), and emphasizes the fact that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to marketing. We’d recommend giving it a read to find out how well you understand the methods in which your customers communicate.
What did you think? Did you find this article useful? Do you adapt your current marketing strategy based on how your customers communicate? Your thoughts are always welcome, so let us know!
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