Carol S asks:
My marketing seems to be less responsive then it used to. How do I know if I need better marketing or do I need to change who I am marketing to?
The first thing I would suggest is don’t assume that your marketing is the problem.
When marketing stops getting the response it once did, the natural reaction is to change the advertising, redesign the website, post more often on social media, send more emails, or simply spend more money trying to reach more people.
But before doing any of those things, I would step back and ask a more important question:
Are we still trying to reach the right customer?
Businesses change over time, but so do customers. Their needs change. Their priorities change. The way they research businesses changes. New competitors enter the market. And sometimes the type of customer who helped build your business five or ten years ago isn’t necessarily the customer who represents your best opportunity today.
Start With the Customers You Want More Of
Instead of beginning with your marketing, begin with your customers.
Look at the customers who are most valuable to your business today—not necessarily just the ones who spend the most money, but the customers you enjoy working with, who appreciate what you provide, who are profitable, and who are likely to recommend you to others.
Ask yourself:
What do these customers have in common?
Why did they originally come to you?
What problem were they trying to solve?
Why did they choose you instead of one of your competitors?
And perhaps most importantly, what matters to them now?
Once you understand that, take another look at your marketing.