How To Know What Your Prospects Are Thinking Before They Think It

A portrait photographer thought clients valued his fast turnaround times, low prices and technical expertise. Then he surveyed his customers and discovered they valued his creativity. Understanding what motivates your customers to buy… what they want and need… is the key to successfully marketing to them.

Prospects that NEED a product or service are price shoppers. To attract high value clients, focus on what your target market WANTS. The photographer created value for a specific group of customers that WANTED what he offered… creativity. His business attracts customers who want one-of-a-kind photographs. These customers can be identified by their emotional profile.

In the news today is all the data Facebook and others have about you. They are using this data to develop emotional profiles. Marketers since the beginning of time want to connect with you emotionally and what has made Facebook so valuable is that they have the data to help you do this. Is that proper? I think it is, if it is done transparently. When done right, you see advertisements that are for things you value. Things you want and need. That’s efficient for both the marketer and you. Advertisements bother me when they aren’t relevant to what I care about.

Where the controversy gets stronger is using these emotional profiles to sway political opinion and specifically, to spread false information. In commerce, knowing spreading false information is a crime. Fraud specifically. In politics it is positioned as an opinion with the intent of provoking an emotional response. Truth is not relevant.

So, how do you use the power of Facebook and emotional profiles while not crossing the line into fraud or other un-savory marketing techniques?

Step 1 – Build an emotional Profile

Step 2 – Identify wants and needs

Step 3 – Focus on a niche

Step 4 – Download our workbook (it’s free)

Build an emotional profile

Step 1a: make sure you have already developed a physical profile of your customer. That is a bit easier as it focuses on demographic data that is readily available or observable. Your physical profile should include as many of these as relevant to your business:

• Age
• Gender
• Income level
• Marital status
• Education level
• Location
• Job title
• Etc.

Step 1b: Then focus on developing the emotional component of your target client. The physical makeup of your target customer is responsible for only a small portion of the success equation for most business owners. Most of your success will be determined by how accurately you define your customers emotional profile.

• Understand what they want and innovate to give it to them
• Identify emotional hot buttons that are emotionally compelling problems, frustrations, fears and concerns your prospects have when they go to buy what you sell
• Give them the solutions they are searching for.

The emotional profile focuses on the Hot Button issues that keep them up at night. What are they afraid of? What bad things will happen if they fail? What great things happen when they succeed? These need to be specific and personally relevant, not just jargon filled simple statements.

If you’re a marketing strategist (as I am) then your customers generally want to get more sales and have cost effective marketing programs. They don’t want to make mistakes or waste money. Sure, but that’s not enough.

What happens if they fail? Does their business fail? Then what, do they go bankrupt? Then what, their marriage fails, and their kids shun them? Ok, that might keep me up at night. The fear of being a failure. The of my world falling apart.

But what happens when they are successful? Their business thrives. Yes, but then what? They make more money. Ok, but then what? They get to take their family on a two-week vacation across Europe. Ok, so what? They develop strong family bonds that last a lifetime. Now that’s exciting!

For many business leaders, there is a strong “fear of failure” emotional hot button. They’ve poured their blood, sweat and tears into

Identify wants and needs

When you need something, you make a logical decision. When you want something, you make an emotional decision. The formula for success is:

• Find your target customers who want what you sell
• Give them innovative solutions that offer the most value
• Position you compelling marketing message in from of them
• Remove the risk for them to experience it for themselves

It’s impossible to describe the physical difference between customers who need what you sell versus those who want what you sell. Both groups look the same. Therefore, you must focus your marketing on what they want. That will draw them to you emotionally.

Focus on a niche

The emotional profile begins the process of separating your business from your competition. When you try to be everything to everyone, you fail to differentiate yourself from the pack and you simply blend in.

A narrowly defined niche allows you to:

• Stand out from the crowd
• Offer exceptional value
• Communicate that uniqueness and value proposition

Download workbook

When you understand your target customers emotional profile, you will know how to compel them to buy from you by appealing to their emotions. Hit their hot buttons and they instantly pay attention to your message. They will be compelled to buy when they see you serve their specific niche market.

Creating an emotional profile is the key to implementing any successful marketing program.

Download out Client Market Dominating Workbook and use the examples as guides.