What Sunday would it be without our weekly Women in Business advice? Today, we talk about getting to know your audience, taking time to research your customers and learn how to embrace their feedback.
The line between being authentic and being good at marketing is very thin, but we all have to walk it. I love being personal with LELE’S, sharing my struggles together with my victories — being real and honest is my way of running my business. I’m not sure if it’s the best one or even the right one, I just know is the only way I would do it.
This doesn’t mean you have to get personal with your own business, but I do believe that if you create a real relationship with your customers, your work will benefit incredibly. The daily messages I get from people supporting me and loving everything that has to do with LELE’S is the best reminder that I love what I do and I shouldn’t let anything stopping me.
Make sure to engage with your audience. Send your products for free to the most loyal customers, ask them what they would like to see from you, what’s something they can’t find anywhere and you can provide for them. Make them part of your business as much as you want your products to be part of your life.
But don’t forget the marketing side of things! There is a lot of research you can do to learn what your targeted audience wants even before launching your business. The web is full of information about what people respond to — from what colours draw people’s attention the most to what kind of language you should use on your social media. You can play with that information, mixing it with your own style and create the business that best represents you.
I know marketing seems a cold and harsh world where you treat people like consumers instead of humans. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Marketing can be a great tool to grow your business while still keeping the personal touch you (and I) love. It would be a perfect world if we could all just post whatever we like and people would just get behind us. But that’s not how the world works and it’s time to learn that.
So, don’t be afraid to create plans, spreadsheets and lists on how to attract more people. That’s key to build and expand your business — without a marketing strategy you won’t go very far. And if you also want to make it personal, do that as well! Talk to your customers, create a feedback group where you can get genuine advice, be honest — you can have it all.
Happy Sunday folks! xx