What do people want?
It’s the age old question isn’t it? What do people want?
It can’t be summarised in any two word sentence or buzz phrase unfortunately. You’d like to hope ‘World Peace’ would be up there, but hey, even that is not for everyone. Sadly.
The truth is, if we want to start our expedition into the territories of what people want, it’s going to take a bit of time and some good tools. Pack a bag. We’re in for a hell of a trip.
Which people?
If we’re delving down into what people want, we’d better narrow down who we’re talking about. There are a lot of people out there and they all want different things.
So, who do we choose? Or maybe a better way to think of it is, who chooses us? If we have a message to get out, we have to know who it it IS and ISN’T for. It’s not for everyone, that’s for sure. There are always going to be people who aren’t picking up what you’re putting down. And that’s OK. Everyone is different.
A great place to start is with your existing ‘best’ customer. You know the one. They LOVE your work. They talk about you to ALL their friends. They come back to you time and time again. And if they’re like my best customer, they pay their invoices on time. (And as your ‘super’ customer, you make sure you know how much they you value them. Right? Great!)
“But, woah up there,” I hear you say. “Aren’t we talking about new customers? You’re talking about one I already have.
Well, yes. And no.
Build your ‘dream customer’
The dream client/customer you already have is a great way to work out how to reach the others that are like them.
Your existing customers give you great insight into potential new ones. You already know how they like to operate, you know (or can find out) how they found you. You may even have had some in depth conversations with them about the things that matter to them. They may have shared some concerns with you. All this helps build your knowledge of who they are. Knowing who they are helps us understand what they want.
Demographics vs. Psychographics
Knowing our customer demography (age, gender, religion, ethnicity etc) gives us a small piece of the puzzle. Psychographics give us deeper insight. These allow us to see our customer’s WHY. (And we all know how important our WHY is, right?)
When we know our client/customer’s values, beliefs, behaviours and culture, we can better understand WHO they are.
If this still seems a bit vague, let’s get specific and talk about an old friend, Jolene.
| Demographics | Psycho-graphics | Psycho-graphic Type |
| Female | Outgoing, cheeky | Personality |
| Aged 20-25 | Doesn’t care what people think | Opinion |
| Red Hair | Believes flirting is harmless | Beliefs |
| Single | Loves getting her nails done | Interests |
| School Drop Out | Sneaks extra cigarette breaks | Behaviour |
| Bank Clerk | Loves Country Music | Passions |
We know a lot more about Jolene by adding her psycho-graphic traits into the mix, than by merely understanding her demographic ones.
From these traits, we can make some assertions about what Jolene wants. It may well be way more than that she wants a man. She may want affection, belonging, control or fun. She might value health, good looks and luxury. She may desire power, romance or even revenge. (Maybe she had her eyes on Dolly’s man WAY before Dolly even knew him. )
The example may be a little wild, but the key thing is starting to understand what goes on for our customers and clients that makes them tick.
Meeting people’s needs
Once we can see the kind of people our customers really are, we can begin to understand what it is that drives them. From here it’s our opportunity – and some might say responsibility – as ethical business people and marketers to help our customers achieve what they want.
If we come to understand what matters to our ‘dream customer’ (and yeah, I know Jolene may not be IT for you), then our goal as marketers is making our customer’s dreams come true. If being skinny is what matters to your customer, understanding that it stems from longing to be accepted may change our stance on how we communicate to them.
A customer’s desire to have the most unique birthday cake for their child may be based on a desire to show or maintain perceived status amongst their friends or to feel that they have done a good job as a parent. A customer’s desire to start saving money might be because they want to buy a house – or it could be that they are looking for security, a sense of control, peace of mind or respect.
If we choose to see our customers as human beings with hearts and emotions, rather than a set of statistics, we’ll get to the heart of what people REALLY want. If we can fathom that, then the way we communicate to our customers is much more nuanced, more human and more caring.
This is marketing we can be proud of.
