The in-depth customer definition, nemesis of small business

My Marketing Bootcamp workshop only allows me about two hours to share important elements of successful marketing in recession. Designed for small business owners, it looks at the importance of branding even for the smallest business and all the elements you need to know to develop a successful marketing plan, like tactics and customer definition.

Needless to say, two hours isn't enough to really get into the nitty-gritty of things. The workshop is really interactive and depending on how long the attendees' comments and stories are, the workshop could easily become a whole day event.

We spend a great deal of time on really getting to know your customer so you can target your marketing. That's really the most important thing to know in recessionary times - how to drill down to the most fine-tuned definition of your customer. You can save money and deliver your messages more effectively.

Much to my surprise, nearly half of the attendees at the last workshop hadn't heard of demographics, hadn't spent time figuring out who their customer is and certainly hadn't considered going more in-depth than just demographics.

I can just imagine all the money flying out their windows since, without a customer definition, they must be just flinging their marketing dollars at the first sales rep that walks in the door.

I can't stress enough the more you know your customer, the more successful your marketing will be.

You've got to go past demographics into psychographics and decision-making styles. In a previous blog about psychographics, I discussed its importance and how to get there.

Knowing the psychographics of your customer is actually more important than the demographics in developing your marketing plan. If you can find the commonalities of lifestyle, interest and hobbies in your customer base, you can get more efficient with your marketing spend.

If you are a small business owner, the more you can target your business to a particular set of customers, the more chance you have to survive the recession. In your attempts to be all things to all people, you're actually hindering your chances of creating a loyal customer base. Leave the "all things to all people" to the big guys like Walmart (who have even learned they need to stick with their psychographics. When they tried to add a high-end section to their stores, it failed abysmally.)

You may think by having a broader customer definition you can make more sales, but you also have to spend more money reaching a broad audience. If you can target your message and your business, you can speak only to the people that are really your customer and keep the spill to a minimum.