There are times in a relationship where it’s too late to do anything about it. Too much water under the bridge, too many things said in spite, too many times ignoring one another. People check out. Once someone is checked out, the relationship can’t be salvaged. I don’t care if you’re talking about employees, a significant other, or a once interested prospect for your business, you need to connect with your audience.
Staying connected is incredibly important in any relationship and here’s how you can do it with people you don’t know all that well — your potential customers.
How to Connect More Effectively with Your Audience
Speak in a real language. No marketing drivel. Use the language they use. Mirror their speech. Are they grammarians or people educated at the school of hard knocks? If you want to connect, the first way to do that is to use the same language.
Understand their challenges and make them yours. If your ideal customer is a busy mom, think about what it’s like to be one. If you have no idea, watch people who are struggling with it. Hit up your friends or watch Hollywood’s depictions of busy family life. Then imagine what your potential customer is most challenged with. How can you help?
Use stories to connect with them. Unless you have a catchy jingle, most people will forget the advertising side of what you are telling them. But a story that they can identify with will remain in their minds long after the commercial is over.
Use your data like a human. I know an online business that requires a sign-in before you can search the catalog of products. This gives them a leg up because they know a little something — name and email — about everyone on their site. They also know by using their data that people who buy the first time they peruse the selection are more apt to buy again. As you would expect, people who leave the site without purchasing anything are less likely to return. That’s why the business reaches out to everyone who doesn’t purchase and thanks them for their interest and invites them back again. They use it as an opportunity to connect.
If you want to connect in a better, more lasting way with your audience, stop looking at them as a faceless group. Instead, think about how you endeared yourself to others in your life and then find ways to show interest in them and care about their struggles.
It’s not about marketing. It’s about being human.
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