The more marketing you do, the bigger your surface area becomes, and the more people will likely find you.
But there’s another half to the equation that is equally important. And that’s selling something people actually want.
It doesn’t matter how broad your surface area is, if what you’re offering isn’t compelling to the people who discover you, you don’t have a business.
And while positioning is very important, it takes more than good positioning to attract clients and customers.
You need to also have a compelling product or service.
Luckily, there’s a straightforward approach to creating products and services people want to buy.
Here’s how it works, in very specific order:
- Get clear on who you want to serve
- Learn everything you can about them
- Create solutions to their problems
- Evolve your offerings and/or adjust your target market (if needed) based on what works best
A lot of people skip to the part where they create solutions and then look for people who have problems they can solve.
That’s a recipe for failure, and yet it’s our first instincts as entrepreneurs.
As Seth Godin says, and I’m paraphrasing, ‘don’t make a key then look for a lock that fits’.
Pick your ideal target marketing, get to know them extremely well, create solutions they want or ask for, and then iterate forever in a continuous loop.
That’s what customer centric means.