Start the year by getting customers not traffic,target your customers

Stephanie Staidle

There is a big ol' myth about business that as long as you have a slew of customers coming in, then you'll be rollin' in the dough.

Well, yes, traffic helps, but if it isn't targeted to match your business product, you are wasting money, time, and loads of energy.

Would you rather have a million people coming into your store and only one person buy from you, or 10,000 people entering your store and 1,000 leaving as buying customers?

Honestly, it is better to have LESS traffic that is concentrated to be a good match for your business, than massive 'low-quality' traffic (aka, customers who don't want what you got!). To know how to target customers for your business, you need to get inside the mind of your customer.

Here are 5 questions you must have the answers for, to help you understand your target customers and position your marketing and business brand accordingly:

1. What bothers your customers about their life right now? As a business, you provide a solution to your customers' problems. It is crucial to understand what their problems are! An understanding of what your customers are struggling with will also help you create future products and services to match their needs.

2. What excites your customers more than anything in the world- what is their dream life? Customers will buy from you because your product provides a new possibility for their life. You want your product to assist them in reaching their goals and align with their dreams.

3. What scares them? What keeps them awake at night? Ok, we aren't talking about werewolves. Every potential customer has real, valid fears. If you can understand their fears and create a product with a marketing campaign to address them, your business will have a powerful advantage.

4. What interests them? Where do they hang out? Now that you know more about how you can meet your customers' needs, you need to know where to find them. By understanding their interests, the websites they are on, the books they read, you can target your marketing campaign to areas that are brimming with buyers.

5. What is the #1 problem in their life right now that, if you could solve, they would pay any amount of money? Ah, here is the clincher. As you tune in to your customers' needs, wishes, and fears you can really hit home with an understanding of the kind of solution you can provide that will have them pulling out their credit cards. This isn't meant to be manipulative- as a business you are solving problems and making a difference; however you obviously want to make a profit doing so (otherwise, you wouldn't be a business owner). By gaining an understanding of your target customers' top priorities and the things they are willing to pay money for, you can fine tune your products and marketing campaigns.

In essence, as a business, you need to understand your customer and their story; you should be able to describe them in detail as though they are standing in front of you. In knowing your customer, you can serve them better.

Stephanie Staidle is a personal and professional development coach, an online entrepreneur, and founder of Cloud Renaissance-a website that empowers people to stop settling, live the life of their choosing and be their own boss.