Marketing Mission: Target Those Who Care
Reading Time: 6 minutes 
Let’s assume that everything on WordPress websites is equal. You have a great-looking website that loads in 2 seconds and looks great on mobile. So, how do you stand out from the billions of online websites?
While researching a project I’m working on, I reviewed some of my bookmarks. (Boy, do I have bookmarks.) If you’re like me, one link leads to another, and another, and… I can get lost reading for hours.
The following quote, within an article I recently read, is what inspired this post:
…the most compelling form of marketing is one that establishes a rapport between our organization’s expertise and those who care.
~ Justin Talerico
When I read the article, I realized it reflected my regular conversations with clients. Unfortunately, that rapport is missing on many websites—the very same websites that coincidentally do not experience the success the site owner desires.
Ask businesses online if they know what their potential customers genuinely care about. They’ll answer that they do — because they think they know. But is that reflected on their websites?
Many websites are based on what the site owner wants potential customers to know. This may not be what potential customers want, need, or care about.
What Does Your Market Care About?
I commonly ask: “What is the primary issue that your target customer cares about?” After reviewing their visually generic website, which usually lacks substantial-quality content and images, with a “corporatey” or boringly generic About page.
After asking that question, I am generally met with silence… They don’t know for sure. So again, their focus is on talking about themselves and their business from their perspective. Does that serve potential customers adequately?
Most site owners have never considered their marketing from this perspective before. Of course, they know what they want to relay to customers about how great their product or service is, but that’s about it.
However, that approach leaves one party out of the conversation—the customer. You need to know and explicitly address what your potential customers care about to create a presentation that addresses their concerns. This is how you build relationships.
The answer to this question goes far beyond what most assume and offer. The answers I usually receive are “good service” and “the best price.” Generic, obvious sales speak.
Service is a given—any business must excel in service to succeed—the best price is not always a necessity. The old saying “you get what you pay for” does ring true. Value or quality does not always correlate with the lowest price.
While being competitive is important, I don’t believe in business models based on a race to the bottom. Models that sell based on the lowest price may work for commodity items, but most folks do not sell commodity items.
Back to the analogy of if everything is equal — say, the price is too. Then what makes your website, business, and products so unique? You’d better have a compelling answer.
You. Your story. Your passions.
Being like everyone else doesn’t make you stand out. On the contrary, resembling every other website causes you to blend in with all the others.
When you personalize your visuals and content with your unique personality and what makes you different, you stand out. That’s how you attract visitors who care about what you stand for.
If you don’t share your story or are not passionate about what you do and why visitors should buy what you are selling, why would you expect customers to be enthused to do business with you? (They probably won’t.)
When you share your story and why you’re enthusiastic about what you do, you also, unsurprisingly, share what your potential customers are looking for. Someone they can relate to, trust, and get a warm, fuzzy feeling from who is in it for all the right reasons. Being uniquely you creates a synergy that potential customers can connect to.
When deciding who to do business with, if everything is equal, wouldn’t you gravitate towards the website, person, or company that you feel “gets” you? That isn’t a cookie-cutter version of everyone else.
Of course, you will. Speaking for myself, I’ll even pay a little more to do business with folks like that.
Your story oozes into everything else…
Knowing what visitors care about helps guide your website’s focus, visuals, navigation, and structure. Next comes content created based on that approach, reflecting your unique personality.
My personality is evident in my content and graphics on this website. So you get a clear window into what I believe in, my ethics, how I do business, and why. It’s all me — and I put it out there.
Social media use and blogging provide the opportunity to connect with your market. Every single thing we do online is, in fact, marketing—every bit, byte, like, comment, graphic, email, post, article—everything.
That’s what you need to do on your website. Make it so that it could never be anyone else’s website because your website is all you.
Are you feeling lost in all the noise?
There are estimated to be 1.88 billion websites worldwide as of April 21, 2025. Wouldn’t it make sense to consider, learn, and discover everything possible about what makes your customers tick?
Social media is one such tool. However, another critical factor is that having a Blog reflects that you understand your market via your areas of expertise.
Creating Customer-centric Lists
Client-centric, also known as customer–centric, is an approach to doing business that focuses on creating a positive experience for the customer by maximizing service and/or product offerings and building relationships.
Investopedia.com
“…and building relationships.”
The Writing Shall Now Commence
Let’s start by creating a few lists to help you establish an editorial calendar for your blog and social activities, including topics you can intuitively write about. In addition, there are issues you can research and investigate. As a result, you’ll be better organized and able to cater to what your customers care about.
By creating these lists, you will be better able to target those who are interested in what you have to offer. They will see you as genuine and approachable because you mirror their thoughts.
Knowing what your target market is concerned about allows you to directly and specifically address those anxieties, desires, hopes, and needs. As a result, you contribute to building relationships that turn into repeat customers and recommendations. Plus, you’ve helped them out—and that’s worth a bookmark every time.
Purpose, Passion, and Personality
You can’t be everything to everyone, nor is it wise to try. But when you do what you do best and write about it with purpose, passion, and personality while catering to your potential customers’ needs, that’s when the magic happens.
When you make that connection, those who care (your market, target customers, suppliers, partners) will welcome the opportunity to accompany you on your journey to success.
At your service,
