If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Take Fido.

He’s a consumer - and he eats lots of beefy meaty chunky balls.

He likes it.

But he doesnt buy it.

That’s his owner - Fred.

Fred’s the customer - not the “consumer”.

All the marketing in the supermarket and the dog food manufacturer tends to be targetted at the customer - not the consumer.

Poor Fido has no say over whether he’s going to get beef chunky balls again or not.

He doesnt even get to use the tv remote control to watch all those sexy female dogs appearing in the tv ads he likes.

As for Fred, he doesnt really know that Fido really prefers the Game and Poultry flavour chunky balls, he just responds to the latest marketing offers he sees when he’s down the supermarket.

It’s the Buy Two get one FREE, SPECIAL offer, new TRIAL SIZE that are all targetted at the CUSTOMER

…who makes the buying decision.

and poor Fido looks solemnly down at his bowl at the new Haggis, Salmon and Peppermint 3-in-1 Chunky balls his owner bought 8 cans for a £1 on a special promo from the lady wearing the lovely bikini and sash in aisle 4 of Asdas today.

Do you sell a service?

For example - Training.

Who are you targetting with your marketing?

Are you selling features or benefits?

Are you solving problems, needs and frustrations?

Are you focussing on price, service or support?

Are you targetting the Buyers in an organisation or the Consumers?

Is the message the same?

Do the Consumers within the organisation have purchasing authority?

Or is it all done remotely, centrally at Head office?

Is the person who buys your product or servce the same person who is going to use it or benefit from it.

In fact, the Customer might be the Organisation, the Buyer, a named indiviudal and the consumer, could be different again.

Do Customers and Consumers want different things?

Do Buyers want different things?

Here are some interesting points you may wish to consider when targetting customers, consumers and buyers…

Does your customer have recognition of a need for your product or service?

Have they identified potential alternatives to your solution? (Are you aware of potential alternatives to your solution?)

How do your prospects or customers evaluate the alternatives?

Is it price, service, delivery timescales, support ?

How do your customers come to a decision? Whats the process? What is the buying process within an organisation?

What actions do they need to take to confirm the sale? What actions do you need to take to make the sale happen?

Does the buyer/customer need to justify their decision to anyone before authorising payment or requesting authorisation?

Will the cutomer only business with you on their terms or will they wholeheartedly agree to your terms?

What about Post purchase Re-assurance / Post purchase dissonance?

What are the other factors that could influence the sale or increase the transaction value?

Fido’s cupboards are full, for every time Fred buys 4 tins, he gets 2 FREE, but he probably only went in to buy one tin.

How can you package added value in what you have to offer both your customers and consumers of your product or solution?

Food for thought