As micro business owners, we have the privilege and advantage to be able to build long term, meaningful relationships with your customers/clients/users/visitors - yay!
We have the opportunity to be nearer the customer relationship and have an up close understanding about what a customer needs and what their 'pains' are. We even have the chance to 'craft' a relationship from the first 'meet cute' to a long lasting champion of your business.
But what does all this mean and how complex is it?
Today I wanted to share some useful tips on how to deepen your relationship with your customers to provide stability, resilience and loyalty to your brand. In a digital world when anything is possible. I want to pick out easy and simple ways to make a difference from day 1.
So here goes!
Build a persona - and I mean a really deep dive one. You can do this digitally or coloured pens and paper, but it's important to capture as much information as possible. Start by imagining your favourite or best customer who's typical of the customers you love working with or selling to. Then gather as much information as you can about them & what they love. Include both factual & psychological data from both digital data and anecdotal sources like emails or reviews. Include things like: Age, location, job type etc | What they love most (reviews, emails, social comments) | What platforms they engage with you on | What type of content is most popular (reels, short/long posts, other video etc) | What other things those customers love (TV programmes, Film stars, dogs etc) | Ways that they use language (emojis, super casual, formal etc)
Create a journey - as a micro business owner, you can build the route you want your customer to take to your service or product. Using your imagination and some of the data you gathered above, start with your persona not knowing about you and first finding out about your business. How would that happen and what would they look for and where? How would you encourage them to take another step along your journey? Thinking about how long it might take to decide, what tools can you use to keep them in your community? How can you encourage them to take the leap to buy? And finally what is that purchasing experience like? How dreamy or brilliant can you make that shine?
Making them feel special - This might go without saying but what can you do to go the extra mile? Do all your customers get invited into an ongoing community? Can you pop them into an exclusive email group? Do they get a referral code for their friends? Can you write everyone a hand written note? Get imaginative and bold!
Tell your story often - the beauty of micro business and the interaction with customers is that it is personal. You may not share your inner world in detail but your customers certainly want to understand your motivations, what life is like, why you care etc. Don't be a wall flower and think about what chapters you'd like to share and plan it out.
Ask for help - customers love nothing more than feeling part of something. Bringing your customers into your decision making processes or asking for feedback is a great way to building trust and rapport. If you're planning new service or simply want an opinion on a colour, then use socials, emails, surveys and polls to find out what they want - research with fun!
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