Marketing Mission: Target Those Who Care
Reading Time: 6 minutes 
Let’s assume that everything on all 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 other websites? How do you find your people?
While researching a project, 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 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 this, 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 achieve the success the site owner desires.
Ask any online businesses what their potential customers genuinely care about, and they’ll usually respond with generic, vague answers. They’ll respond as if they know, as a matter of fact, which touchpoints are important for their website visitors, because they think they do. But is that reflected on their websites?
Unfortunately, all too often, many websites are designed to convey 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?
After reviewing a visually generic website (which usually lacks high-quality content and images and has a “corporatey” or generic About page), I often ask: “What is the primary issue that your target customer cares about most?”
After asking that question, I am generally met with silence… It’s clear they don’t know for sure. The answers I usually receive are “good service” and “the best price.” Generic, obvious sales speak.
Good service is a given, right? Any business must excel in service to succeed—but the best price is not always necessary. The old saying “you get what you pay for” does ring true. Value or quality does not always correlate with the lowest price.
This corporatey communication style leaves one party out of the conversation—the customer. Instead, identify and explicitly address your potential customers’ problems to create a presentation that addresses their concerns. Directly.
While being competitive is important, I don’t believe in business models based on a race to the bottom. Models that sell only on price may work for commodity items, but most businesses do not sell commodity items.
Back to the analogy of if everything is equal — say, the price is too. What makes your website, business, and products unique? You need to 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. You are nothing special.
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. That’s how you build a tribe.
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, content is created in line with that approach, of course, again reflecting your unique personality (and that you are not AI).
My personality is evident in the content and graphics on this website. So you get a clear view of what I believe in, my ethics, how I do business, and why I do it. It’s all me — and I put it out there.
Social media use and blogging offer opportunities 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 an estimated 1.34 billion websites worldwide as of today. Wouldn’t it make sense to learn everything possible about what makes your customers tick?
Social media is one such tool. However, another critical factor is that having a blog demonstrates your understanding of your market and your areas of expertise. A blog is your E-E-A-T factor (Read more about Expertise, Experience, Authority, Trust)
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 better able to address what your customers care about.
By creating these lists, you will be better able to target those interested in your offerings. They will see you as genuine and approachable because you mirror their thoughts.
Knowing what your target market is concerned about lets you address those anxieties, desires, hopes, and needs directly and specifically. As a result, you help build relationships that lead to repeat customers and referrals. 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’ specific 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,
