“No matter how small your business is, you probably have a few customers that you know you can rely on. They regularly buy your product or use your service. They have given you positive feedback a number of times. You know you have made a connection with them by their actions.
Use these customers to your advantage. If it feels like your advertising efforts are not being effective, it may be because you are not targeting the right people. You should be targeting people who are just
like those reliable customers that you have. You know they like your product or service, so people like them probably will, too.
However, to effectively market to “your” type of customers, you first have to figure out who “your” customers are. You have to get to know those “old faithful” customers that keep you in business.
Offer them an incentive to give you information about themselves. For instance, send some of them a survey through direct mail, and offer 25% their next purchase if they fill it out and return it. Or, when you design your advertising posters, mention on them that you will give away your service for free for a period of time if customers come in and fill out your survey.
Besides asking them to fill out surveys, go ahead and talk to your loyal customers. Get to know them as people, not just as consumers. Ask about their families, their jobs, what kind of car they drive. This is the type of thing you want to find out, because it will be supremely valuable later.
Once you get this information from your loyal customers, you will know whom to target in any future advertising that you do. You may find that most of “your” customers are retired men who live in the suburbs. Or “your” customers may come primarily from rural areas, and consist mostly of middle-aged family women who drive mini-vans.
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