Customers are Not One Dimensional

Recently I blogged about how we (marketers/businesses/brands) need to get out of our ivory towers and put ourselves in the shoes of our customers.

It got me thinking about some of the businesses that I’ve had dealings with over the years. Part of the problem is that not only do we look at people as customers or potential customers, but we look at them through our corporate glasses. For instance, if I sell hats, I might look at my customers as people who are really interested in hats.

We tend not to think of them as being multi-dimensional.

I work in, and am very passionate about, Social Media. But if you look at me as “that Social Media guy,” you are missing a lot of the picture. I also happen to be quite the radio geek. I love studying and learning about radio, from it’s earliest days to the present.

I also love sports, particularly Philadelphia sports. Get me talking about the Phillies, and I won’t stop. (By the way, they happen to be doing fairly well these days…)

Then there’s my love of music, with my evolving tastes.

Other passions of mine include: writing, reading, history, my family, and on and on and on.

Every one of us is multi-faceted. There are those that are passionate about NASCAR, running, makeup, dogs, cats, knitting, baking, fixing cars, video games.

So rather than just viewing us as hat-wearers, we need to see that Bob is a hat-wearing, baseball watching, fisherman, who happens to fix up cars. Meanwhile Betty is a hat-wearing, Chef who loves Salsa music and is a history buff. They both wear hats, but there is much more to them than just that.

Stop treating your community as if they only exist for you. You and your product might be ONE of their passions, but if you can tap into their other passions as well, then you are on your way.

If you’re a business and you can satisfy my passion for baseball AND my passion for radio AND my passion for music…there’s a good chance I’ll latch on to you and become a true fan and advocate who tells others about you.

This may require you to be a little extra creative, but it can be done.

None of us is one-dimensional, and as consumers we don’t exist for you or your company or your product. In fact, you are there to meet OUR needs. You are there to serve, and not be served.

If we get the proper perspective, things will start to fall into place.

Tagged as: Marketing, Social Media