Key Takeaways from the “Digital Marketing in a Nutshell” workshop Jessica Aries hosted at LMA Southwest Regional Conference
We’ve all heard it. “Know Your Audience.” But what does that really mean, and how does knowing your audience affect your bottom line?
Not just knowing who your audience is, but truly understanding who they are and what they need allows you to figure out what content will hook your prospective clients and give them the answers to the questions you know they have.
In order to hook them and reel them in, you have to know their pain points, their needs, and how to make them view you as the solution to all of their problems. We’ve covered why personalized marketing is so beneficial and the importance of knowing you audience in great length, but do you know how to get personal and identify your audience?
Let’s take a look at 4 easy and accessible steps that will get you a closer view inside the minds of your prospective clients.
1. Start with Client Feedback Surveys and CRM Databases
If you’re in any type of business or any shape or size, chances are pretty good that you have some form of system in place for tracking your clients and prospective clients. I know firsthand how expensive and arduous those systems can be… so why aren’t you taking full advantage of their power?
I’ve seen it time and again—a firm invests a big chunk of their budget in these CRM platforms, and they pour hours of work into entering in all of that important customer data… only to let it live there in the program completely rent free and serving absolutely no purpose other than keeping your marketing intern occupied with data entry.
Take advantage of what you already know! Effectively utilizing this tool allows you to sort clients and identify common needs, review the history of engagement with your client and prospects, and, at the very least, give you just a little refresher of who your client actually is, which is super helpful for busy attorneys or professional services workforce.
In addition to reviewing, sorting, and using the data you already have, these platforms usually come with built-in survey platforms, many of which can be sent automatically. Use. This. Feature. Or, you can even create your own survey to manually and personally send, too.
It matters not whichever way you want to slice it, just make sure you use it.
2. Work with Your Attorneys and Client-Facing Workforce to Identify Decision-Makers
I know we’ve all done it (and maybe continue to do it): we automatically assume that c-suite is the holy grail of our target audience, the ones we cater to and make sure to wine and dine in order to get the best feedback and feel for needs. Makes sense, right?
In theory, yes, that makes sense—the ones with the biggest paychecks and seniority surely make all of the decisions and always have a clear idea of what they and their business need, right? That’s not always the case, and I bet you know why.
Those high-ranking corporate positions aren’t always in the mix of the minutiae, and they’re often not involved with every moment of the day-to-day operations and issues that need your assistance and service. If you ask your attorneys, I bet they’d often tell you that project managers and assistants are the ones coordinating the calls, managing the workflows, and making sure the right people show up at the right time at the right table.
These positions may be meager in comparison to the c-suite, but their power is mighty. They are the gate-keepers and the megaphones of their offices, and they are the ones who will tell you what’s needed. Working with attorneys to identify these key clients and prospective clients will do wonders for your content and the way you offer services directly to them and when.
3. Track Language Used by Your Highest and Best Clients to Request Services
Tell the truth. How much time have you and your marketing team (and probably some others) collectively poured into RFPs and RFQs? If attempting to calculate those hours leaves you bleary-eyed and overwhelmed, then it’s likely enough time and energy invested to the point of knowing by heart which submissions were successful.
If you’re not capturing the language you routinely use to market and gauging its success in hooking your prospective clients, all of those hours you’ve spent drafting fine-tuned and tailored language are in vain.
4. Build a Client Persona for Each Type of Target Client
This one really addresses the crux of the matter at hand, as it allows you to create a road map to reaching your prospects. Client personas might sound like something from the movie Sybil, but this isn’t about multiple personalities or even a real person.
Your customer persona is a fictional person who is embodies the qualities and needs as your top-notch prospective clients. There are great blueprints online for building your own customer personas, and here’s one as an example.
If you’ve looked this over and still found yourself a bit perplexed about the best way to understand your clients and prospective clients, the By Aries team has you covered with our tried-and-true customer personas which are structured around data and analytics. Reach out to us to book a consultation to discover how knowing your audience translates to knowing those benchmark goals and bottom lines will be met in abundance!
