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Advice From A Business Strategy Coach
Written by: Dennis Charles
As we move into the phase of Business Post-COVID, there are
3 Crucial Things for you to understand as a business owner:
1. Where we are at now is not temporary.
This is real, the business landscape has changed forever, and every business owner needs to adapt very quickly.
2. The pandemic is not affecting every business or industry in the same way, but every business is being affected.
3. The businesses that have a strategic plan and the agility to quickly adapt to the external surroundings and customer needs will have an enormous advantage.
"By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” - Benjamin Franklin
During the pandemic, I interviewed three photography businesses.
Here were the photography businesses' prospectives on the pandemic environment.
1. One business owner assured me that there was no business available for any photographers right now, and that she would probably have to close her business. She blames parents with iPhones, charities and the government restrictions that had taken away any chance she had of making a living.
2. Another photography company was being more cautious and living on savings. The owner was using the downtime to develop mutually beneficial referral relationships and networking with their ideal buyer base. She felt that when things open up some more, they'll be able to serve some of these potential customers.
3. This photographer, while acknowledging that his level of income had taken a hit, put a plan into place to deliver high quality “socially distanced” themes. He was also offering excellent and unique graduation memories for the seniors of 2020, who were really affected by Covid-19. He fully understood that he’s in the memory creation business, not the photography business. He is now looking at how he can help businesses create amazing new online experiences through photography and video.
All these photographers lived within 15 miles of each other and served very similar markets. The key was the attitude and the willingness to make changes that served their buyer personas.
Your Buyer Persona is someone who is thrilled by and values your services. They have a need for what you offer, and they enjoy buying the experience, from the sale through delivery.
Golf Magazine knows its buyer persona(s) exactly. For the US market: An individual aged 40-60 and they are golf obsessed. They have a significant amount of disposable income, and Golf Magazine helps them spend that disposable income on the latest golfing technology. Its buyers literally think about golf twenty-four hours a day.
"Release of original content like Home School and 9 to 5 Golf to help our audience improve while staying home." Home School and 9 to 5 Golf are two video campaigns, under its new #Playingthrough digital marketing strategy, Golf Magazine curated based on the information it knows of its buyers and their present needs.
They do not target their articles or advertising to 17-year-olds, who are obsessed with video games. It would make no sense.
Check out Golf Magazines new campaign #Playingthrough media deck. See how Golf Magazine has structured it's digital marketing strategy to assist its buyer personas' needs along their buyer's journey. It is clear that Golf Magazine knows How To Go Digital and how to adapt to the Pandemic climate with the help of an inbound methodology.
Where are you with your business in the Pandemic?
During this pandemic, ask yourself the following questions:
1. Are you making it easy for your customers to find you?
Read Digital Marketing Institutes Blog Post: 7 Key Ingredients of a Successful Digital Marketing Strategy
2. Are you making it easy for your customers to pay you?
Apps and online payment services, such as PayPal, Venmo, and Zelle have helped people continue to buy from the safety of their homes.
"As our platform sees record increases in both new customer accounts and transactions, it is clear that PayPal's products are more important and relevant than ever before," CEO Dan Schulman said in a press release."- Joe Tenebrus, Nasdaq.com
3. Are you delivering your products or services in a way that makes it easy for your customers to buy from you?
To Find out how to adapt your marketing and sales messaging for the Pandemic
Read our blog post: 3-Steps on how to adapt your marketing and sales in the pandemic environment.
What Makes up your Buyer Persona Profile?
Your Buyer Persona has what is called a demographic and a psychographic. A Demographic trait generally is observable from the outside. It consists of elements, such as where your buyers live, their age, the car they drive, their income, and family makeup.
Psychographics are much less difficult to see from the outside. They comprise the “worldview” of your buyer personas. What are your buyer's values? What are their deepest desires? What keeps them up at night? What do they want to achieve in their life? It is the conversation that is happening in their head. If you can speak to that conversation, you will be able to help them and build a relationship with them.
Find out how you can uncover these psychographic traits by building a buyer persona.
It is very difficult to speak to a generalized audience. The best way is to get extraordinarily clear and write directly to them.
I suggest writing to ONE person.
For example in my business, my buyer persona is:
Visit Dennis' services page to learn more about how he can help your business grow.
Why you should create a buyer persona.
1. You can speak to your buyers directly and easily develop a relationship with them.
2. You can target and focus your marketing, easily identifying people who can benefit from what you offer.
3. If you are building a referral-based business, and know a client of yours that fits your buyer persona's profile; leverage their network.
Your buyer persona tends to spend time with more of the same type of audience. All you need to do is to teach your current client how to make introductions that make them look amazing. Then you will have an ongoing pipeline of buyers.
As you strategically open up your business over the next few months, you have an amazing opportunity to reset your service offerings from where they are now. You can help the audience you wish to serve by speaking to them directly. This will help you by being top of mind when your audience decides the time is right to take advantage of your services or products.
I wish you well.
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