Narrow your focus

Do you know who your customers are?

If you said, “Everyone,” you’re fooling yourself. You cannot be all things to all people.

Who is most likely to buy your product? What motivates them? Where can you find those customers? How do you keep them?

To answer those questions, try thinking along generational lines.

• The Silent Generation – the World War generation – is loyal. They say, “Appreciate me!”

When it comes to advertising, Silents are print-driven. Look at any daily newspaper and you’ll see an overwhelming preponderance of ads featuring people 65 and older.

Silents don’t know much about technology and don’t much care, either. They want to talk to a real person, they want you to know their names and that you appreciate their business. Reward them for their loyalty.

• The Baby Boomers are burned out. They say, “Make it easy for me!”

Boomers grew up with newspapers, but they rarely have enough time or energy to sift through a general-circulation publication.

They’re more likely to go to general news websites or a single-interest site – like ESPN.com – to get targeted news that interests them. If they buy magazines, they’ll be specialty publications.

Time-slammed Boomers are fine with technology, as long as it gets them where they want to go – fast.

Don’t make them slog through a dozen menu options on the phone before they can get what they need.  Or they’ll find another company.

• Generation X were latch-key kids and don’t want any part of their parents’ 60-hour work weeks. They say, “Having a life is important to me!”

This group spends a lot of time online, and much of that supports their lifestyles, such as shopping, banking and research, according to Pew Internet research.

• Generation Y, the Millennial cluster sees the whole world as their community, one they want to improve. They say, “Change starts with me!”

The Internet means entertainment for Millennials. They like collaborative gaming, where people play together to beat a game, not each other, and social networks, too.

If you want to keep Generations X or Y coming back for your product, make sure your Internet interfaces are easy to use and intuitive, and give them a chance to be involved.

Social networking has an enormous effect on the way everyone does business. The old public relations adage – “It’s not what you say about yourself, but what others say about you” – has found its true home on the Internet.

This “user-generated content” — comments and reviews from ordinary people — are highly credible, more so than many “official” sources.

Some great examples of this is creeping into mainstream marketing:

• One company uses TV ads to send people to its website and “ask real owners” how they like their product.

• Another business directs TV viewers to their website to volunteer or encourage them to vote. This company also donates a portion of its proceeds to charitable organizations.

This may sound simplistic or just a lot of hooey. But if your business is struggling, come up with one or two simple strategies based on targeting your customers by generation and see how it works.

What have you got to lose?