What Your Clients Want: 9 Ways to Find Out
In order to successfully market yourself and your business,
you need to understand what your prospects and customers
need and what kinds of questions they want answered.
When you know this information, you can use the content for
your website, articles, newsletter, brochures,
teleseminars, ezine, speaking engagements, blog, free
reports, and so on. You can also use it to design new
programs, workshops, services and products.
In other words, you need this information to do ALL your
marketing!
So, how do you find out what your prospective and current
customers need and want most? Well, asking them is the
quickest, easiest and most direct method. There are also
ways you can "eavesdrop" to find out stuff too.
Below are 9 ways for you to stay on top of what your target
group wants:
1) Have a question page on your website
-allow people to submit questions to you in your area of
expertise
-have the link available on every page of your website
2) Keep current with happenings in your industry
-when you read magazines, newspapers and trade publications
clip out anything that you feel would be of interest to
your prospects, or have a possible impact on your clients'
businesses
3) Ask questions on your blog and allow people to post
comments
-if you have a blog, ensure that you are providing lots of
opportunity to get feedback from people who're reading your
posts
-keep track of questions that are being asked and see if
there are recurring themes you could write a specific blog
about, or create a new product
4) Solicit feedback prior to speaking to a group
-you can ask the coordinator of the seminar if they know of
any specific concerns and issues that are facing the
audience you will be speaking to
-if conducting your talk for a specific company, ask if you
can send an email around prior to the event in order to
make sure your talk specifically targets the group's needs
5) Set up a specific email address for people to send you
questions
-promote yourself as an expert by providing people with an
opportunity to submit questions
-tell people about this resource via your newsletter or
ezine, and make sure to publish some of the questions &
answers in the next newsletter
6) Do a survey
-at the end of a presentation or talk, pass around a brief
hand-out asking for feedback and any questions that they
didn't get answered
-have an online survey asking specific questions around new
products, programs, customer service , etc. and promote the
link in your newsletter, ezine, special email and blog
-pick up the telephone and call some current customers to
find out what's working/what's not, what new product or
services they need, and any other question you want
information about
-have a sheet at tradeshows where people can write down
their burning questions and you'll get back to them - give
away a prize for the best questions
7) Join online forums
-browse through online forums that are geared towards your
niche market to see what kinds of questions people are
asking and what frustrations they're experiencing
8) Gather information on your website contact page
-have another field (box) on the contact form where people
can provide details about themselves and their needs
9) Keep watch on competitors newsletters, articles and
blogs
-see what questions that they are being asked and what kind
of information they're providing to their clients and
prospective customers
I encourage you to use several of these methods for finding
out exactly what your customer base and prospects want. Not
only will you ensure that you stay current but you'll also
have great targeted content for all your communications.
The more you understand whom you're talking to, the more
your marketing efforts will succeed and the more lucrative
success you'll have.
----------------------------------------------------
Jody Gabourie, The Small Business Marketing Coach, delivers
simple, innovative and powerful marketing strategies to
help business owners find and keep their most profitable
clients. To learn more about how she can help you take
your business to the next level, and to sign up for her
FREE special report, ezine and articles, visit her site at
http://www.JodyGabourieMarketingCoach.com
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