First things first, what is a consumer-centric marketing approach? It’s a method of centering your marketing strategies around your customer’s needs and interests. It seems a little obvious, right? Let’s get a little more nuanced. 

The consumer-centric approach also focuses on who your customer is and how your service, product, or brand can solve their specific problems. It’s not about focusing on the lowest price or the flashiest features. It’s about being mindful of how your goods or services impact your customers’ lives and intentionally showcasing those benefits in your marketing. With this approach, your business can better understand your target audience and how you can develop not only your marketing strategy around their needs but also your products and services themselves. 

At DAE & Company, we’ve talked to many brands who have gotten stuck in a rut of pushing their products and services onto their target market with campaigns that seemed like a good idea but didn’t generate results. From our perspective, it was easy to see why. Those marketing campaigns didn’t address the wants or needs of the consumers. More often than not, they focused on the “look at me” elements that the brand was excited about but not the benefits to the consumers that their audiences cared about. Laid out like this, it’s easy to see why brands should market themselves for their audiences and not at them, but how can you make that happen?

Look at Your Sales Funnel From a First-Time Buyer Point-of-View

Sometimes you can’t see the forest through the trees, and you must take a purposeful step back for a fresh perspective. You know all the ins and outs of your business, products, or services, but don’t let that knowledge cloud your judgment! If a customer can’t understand your product or service immediately, or doesn’t see the need for it, you’ll need to rework your messaging. Think about your brand, business, services, and products as if you’re a customer that has just entered the sales funnel. 

 Ask yourself some tough questions:

• Who is this brand, and what do they offer?
• What wants or needs would this purchase meet for me?
• How would this purchase improve my life?
• Could I get this product or service elsewhere? 
• What would make me choose one brand over another?

Does your marketing communicate what your brand is about and how your products or services add value? If not, you aren’t investing in a consumer-centric marketing approach.

Will your products or services make their lives easier? Make them healthier or wealthier or happier?  Make complicated tasks more simple? Allow them to focus on their relationships or positively impact their lives? Whatever needs your brand meets, ensure that each marketing campaign addresses and answers these questions in a meaningful way.

Use Data and Metrics to Understand Your Target Audience

As mentioned earlier, it can be easy to think you know everything about your business and customers. It’s crucial to rely on updated data and consumer insights, not just experience and opinions! Whether you’re new to a company or you’ve been there for years, consumer habits change, and it’s essential to keep up. 

Gathering data about your target audience and investing in ongoing consumer trends and industry insights is critical in understanding who your audience is and what they’re looking for. 

Beyond these insights, investing in brand sentiment tracking and reputation management tools can give you an even better understanding of how people are responding to and talking about your business.   Using all the data available to you in purposeful ways will help you elevate your marketing and build stronger connections for better conversions.

Don’t Over-Sell to Your Customers

Most businesses are focused on making a profit at the end of the day, but consumers don’t buy things to contribute to a brand’s profit. They buy to improve their lives. Don’t get so caught up in increasing revenue or driving conversions that you forget to connect with your target audiences. Avoid becoming that old stereotype of a used car salesman with pushy, loud sales tactics. Focus on what happens for customers after they choose your products or services, not pushing the infomercial highlights at them every step of the way. 

That’s not to say you shouldn’t talk up your goods. You absolutely should! Ensure you focus on your consumers’ wants and needs first and foremost. Typically, customers will purchase a service or product if it will bring them joy if a peer recommends it, if they can identify with a brand or feel a sense of belonging, if it’s convenient, or if they trust the brand. How can you showcase your best features in a marketing campaign that lets your target audience connect with you on one of those levels?

Improve Your Consumer-Centric Marketing Efforts

If you’ve already implemented a consumer-centric marketing approach for your business but are still struggling to see results, reach out to a trusted and professional marketing agency like DAE & Company for a fresh perspective! We can help you refocus your brand’s marketing efforts, allowing you to reconnect with your customers and understand what they’re looking for. Maybe you need a rebrand to help you refocus your efforts and freshen up your look and messaging to better align with today’s consumers. Or perhaps you just need some help crafting the right messaging for the right audiences. Whatever you need, we can help! Contact us today to review your brand and marketing efforts to develop a consumer-centric marketing approach that will generate results!