3 Ways To Build Relationships With Your Target Market

April 13, 2021

98

By Anna Peel. Originally published at ValueWalk.

In an age when your business is competing against countless other companies across the globe, you must find innovative ways to reach your customers. Although you should continue to improve your product line and your customer service, your top priority must be connecting with your target market. Use this checklist to ensure that you’re doing everything possible to build and maintain relationships with your customers.

Q1 2021 hedge fund letters, conferences and more

Invest in Call Analytics

Every time you receive a call from a customer, you’re presented with an opportunity to learn more about your target market. How often are they willing to call back? How do they respond to your voicemail message? What time of day do they call? Trying to keep track of these questions for every phone call is a nightmare without help. That’s where a Voice over Internet Protocol system, or one that handles your phone calls through the cloud, comes in. VoIP phones are much easier for your parent company to analyze because they’re not based on a landline. If you’re curious about how to make the most of VoIP call analytics, pick up a guide to business IP systems.

Ask for Customer Feedback

You don’t know for sure whether your customer outreach programs work until you speak to your clients. At least once a year, conduct a major survey in which you ask for customers’ opinions on every facet of your business:

Prices
Staffing
Products
Premises
Advertising
Location
Mission statement

Include a textbox in which customers can add their own comments, and make sure to read every entry before presenting your findings. If you’re having trouble getting people to participate, offer an incentive such as a coupon or an entry into a raffle. Then, implement at least a few of the changes that your customers suggested, and make it clear that you’re responding to customer feedback. For example, if you’re introducing a new product based on demand, include a catchphrase such as “You asked; we answered” in your marketing.

Additionally, you should seek customer feedback informally throughout the year. When customers prepare to check out, ask them if they’ve found everything they needed. Post a QR code to a virtual suggestion box throughout your store, and encourage customers to send issues to your human resources department.

Maximize Your Social Media Presence

The Internet gives your customers easy access to all your competitors, but it also gives you plenty of opportunities to connect with your customers on a personal level. Although younger generations are most famous for their social media use, every age group has a major presence on certain platforms. Every business, regardless of its target market’s age, should have a Facebook page. Although Millennials and Gen Zers are not as active as Gen Xers and Baby Boomers, they still use it for networking purposes. On your Facebook page, share your search engine blog posts, photo updates, and promotion information. Hold Facebook Live sessions during which you introduce new products or answer viewers’ questions. Make sure to monitor your Messenger app for direct messages, and watch the comments on your posts for questions or inappropriate behavior.

If your target market is made up of Millennials and other young people, you need an Instagram account. Instagram is owned by Facebook, so it includes similar features, such as stories, direct messages, and Instagram Live capabilities. However, Instagram is image- rather than text-focused, so links to your blog posts aren’t the best approach. Instead, share behind-the-scenes photos, ask your followers to participate in photo contests, and share artwork or photos from customers. To improve your connections with customers, acknowledge tags on your story and like or respond to their comments.

Platforms such as Snapchat and TikTok are best for advertisements rather than communication since they’re based on videos and photos without captions. However, you can still host question-and-answer sessions on these platforms. Additionally, having accounts increases your relevancy to Generation Z, so you should jump into the world of videography if you have a young target market.

In today’s fast-paced digital world, it’s easy to feel cut off from your customers, especially if you conduct most of your sales online. In reality, you have more opportunities than ever before to connect with them.