Figure Out Exactly What Your Audience Wants

Marketing, branding, selling all boil down to figuring out what your most perfect customer wants.

Your brand is a distilled version of what your perfect customer deeply craves.

But, how the heck do you go about figuring this out. After all, it is the rare exception that a company advertises exactly what they deeply crave.

In job postings they talk about the skill set that they think will deliver them the results that they so desperately are seeking, but they rarely address the results that they want. It's the results that truly count.

When you know the results that your audience wants, you put yourself in a powerful position. (And, yes, powerful positions are key to your long-term success!)

So let's do it, together, right now.

What does my audience want, exactly?

Step One: Figure out the big picture

First thing's first, you need to figure it out at a macro level. A 30,000 foot level. If you're a sales guy, they probably want more quality sales. If you are an account, they probably want a clarity and confidence in their numbers. If you are in marketing, they probably want a bigger, better funnel. You get the idea.

I know it seems simple, but, identifying the 30k foot view is key to figuring out what they want.

Step Two: Zoom In, Way In

Now that we're clear on the high level goal, let's zoom in, start to get a feel for the details and the method they want to achieve their goals.

If you were the sales guy ' do they want to grow the customer base, increase retention, improve profitability or open up a new market? All of these (and combinations of them) can be a company's ultimate desire.

If you were the accountant, are they looking for financial direction, peace of mind, a spending gate-keeper? What is their motivation to bring someone in? What is their pain point?

If you were the marketer, are they hurting for more leads or higher quality ones? Are they losing people in their funnel or are they missing a comprehensive brand and being forgotten immediately?

Another way to do this is to look at what is going really well for the company and identify aspects that are currently underperforming. These are huge opportunities for you to make a huge impact on the goal that your audience so deeply desires.

Zoom in on the challenge.

Step Three: Focus on the How

Now that you've figured out exactly what they want, it's time to dissect the how. How, exactly do they want to achieve these outcomes.

If you were the sales guy, and they wanted high growth through new customers, do they want to achieve this through tons of cold calls? Through deep personal relationship building? Through participation at events? How do they want to achieve their goal.

The how is going to be a main driver for your brand.

Step Four: Insert YOU!

You've learned some very powerful things up to this point. You've identified the macro (CEO-level) goal, the detailed (hiring manager level) goal and the method that you can best achieve these goals.

Armed with only that information, you are 5x more likely to get hired. But, when you take it to this final step and interject yourself into the story, your results will go through the roof.

The best way to do this is to relate specific examples of personal characteristics, skills and experiences that will directly drive the results that they are seeking, in the method that will be most effective for their company.

It's all about showing the skills that the job requires. And, that, will get you hired.

Want to see more examples? There are three right here!

Author:

Rebecca Rapple has been featured in Harvard Business Review, Business Insider, Keith Ferrazzi's My Greenlight and more. You can learn more about the fundamentals of a remarkable job search on her site, The Resume Revolution.