Bridge That Gap

6 Tips On How To Build A Brand That Connects With Customers

1. Know What You Do Best
Unless your product or service is an exact copy of another, there’s usually something about what you do or how you do it that you can do better than anyone else. Maybe it’s a different ingredient, or a step in your customer care. If this difference matters and delivers a real benefit to customers, then you’re likely to have a solid basis on which to build your brand. So first, know what it is you do best.

2. Know Who You Do It Best For
Although your point of difference matters, it’s unlikely that every customer values it equally. There’s no use in attracting customers who don’t appreciate what it is you do best. They’re much less likely to buy, and if they do, much more likely to be disgruntled. You need to target your best customers only, those who most need, want and value what you have to offer, and are willing to engage and able to buy.

3. Know Why Customers Buy
Once you’ve identified those best customers in your market, you need to understand what it is about what you do best that fixes the real problem they face, and prompts them to buy from you only. Maybe your product or service enables a guilt-free purchase or provides peace of mind that others don’t. Knowing why customers buy enables you to reach your customers in a way that makes most sense to them.

4. Know How Customers Buy
Customers purchase different things in different ways, so it’s important to understand how your best customers like to buy from you. Perhaps your offering is more easily bought by license or by instalment. There’s no point in selling only in the way that suits you; you must see it from the other side of the shop counter too, and understand how your customer likes to buy, so that you can begin to bridge that gap.

5. Know How Customers Research
Just as they purchase different products or services in various ways, customers make decisions on what to buy differently too. It could be your customer is happy to take a recommendation from a radio show or prefers to research online from someone just like them. Understanding the steps your customer takes before reaching a decision, means that you can begin to provide them the information they need at exactly the time and place they need it.

6. Know What Resources Customers Use
When you know how customers research and how they buy, you can identify the resources they use to help them purchase what’s just right for them. Maybe your customer prefers to read something in the newspaper before visiting your store, or likes to sample something before buying it. Once you know the resources they require, you can provide just the right combination of building blocks to bridge the gap between you and your customers.

2 Takeaways

Brand As Bridge
It’s useful to think of your brand as standing for the relationship between you and your customer. When we understand how our brand relationship works, we’re much more likely to do the things that are right for us and for our customer, and become the natural choice of our best customers.

Hitting The Bullseye
When you’ve identified those customers who most need, want and value what you have to offer, and are willing to engage, and able to pay for it, it’s a good idea to draw up a profile of your ideal or Bullseye Customer, and use this to enable you to focus on the heart of your market.