A deep understanding of your market is key to the success of your business; but we know this can be difficult – especially when starting out…

We all tend to make assumptions about what people are thinking, and what they want and need – in real life and in business. Without realising, we do it every single day, and misunderstand people all the time as a result.

The assumptions we make are often based on who we are, how we feel – and what we want and need ourselves.

But in business, one of the most vital skills you can learn is to make decisions based on your market’s perspective, rather than your own. Assumptions are by their very nature unfounded. And believe us; unfounded is NOT a good word in marketing.

You are not your customer.

Knowing what your customer wants VS thinking you know what your customer wants are two very different things!

“If you want to create messages that resonate with your audience, you need to know what they care about.”-  Nate Elliott

So how do you get to know your customer?

Whilst the likes of Google or Amazon have developed some highly sophisticated (and quite frankly terrifying) ways of getting to know people, you clearly don’t have those powers.

You do at least though have access to some really useful (and free) analytics in your social networking platforms, that will help you to understand who your audience are and how they behave.

There are plenty of paid options too that don’t always break the bank.

If you want to know the basics, then read this.

Look at your competitors

Go and take a really good look at your competitors on social media – and then take a good honest look at yourself and where you’re at.

You want to start with brands who are similar to yours, but perhaps slightly more established. For example, if you’re a new online store selling shoes, you’re not going to look at Nike as a competitor.

Instagram in an AMAZING place to look for competitors who are just a few steps ahead of you. Because it’s so visual, you can get a really good feel for what’s working and what’s not, and also exactly who is following whom.

Once you’ve identified your competitors, you want to ask yourself a few questions to figure out things like what you like about them, what their unique selling point is, and what it is that you can do differently to create your own space in the market.

This isn’t about copying: It’s about finding inspiration to help you bring that special something that’s already inside of you, to life.

Talk to your followers

We all know that social media is a great place to build up an audience of followers who are relevant to you and your brand, but followers don’t necessarily equal customers.

They’re potential customers, yes. But not customers yet.

Once you’ve got a bit of an audience around what you do, the next step is to help them get to know, like and trust you. Why? Because we only do business with people we know, like and trust.

An important part of establishing a relationship and building that know, like and trust factor, is finding out what your potential customers are thinking and feeling at every stage of the journey.

Ask questions… Reply to comments… Strike up conversation… Be helpful… Be genuine. Be yourself! And don’t be afraid to share things about yourself too, so that people can make a connection with you.

Keep sharing, keep listening, and keep getting clearer about what your customer wants and needs, so that you can design your products and services to be things they want to buy.

Imagine your customer is your best friend – listen to their concerns, be a shoulder to lean on and then shift the the focus from what went wrong to how you can make it right,” – Rachel Hogue