If you want to run a successful marketing campaign, whether it’s for a $500,000 sports car or a $12 water bottle, one thing that you absolutely MUST do is ensure that you know who your customers are and how they think and feel about a wide range of things.

Below are some of the most important things you need to know about your customers if you want your marketing efforts to… well hit the mark.

Who they are

The most obvious piece of information you need to have about your customers is who they are. It’s going to be pretty tough to sell anything to anyone if you don’t know anything about them. So, before you do anything else, conduct some market research to find out the gender, age, and work status of your target audience. Once you know these three things, you will have a much better idea of what is likely to appeal to them.

What they care about

Once you know the basics, it’s also worthwhile finding out what they care about, whether that means researching tier hobbies and activities or getting to the bottom of their ethical concerns. For example, if you know your customers are more likely to be vegan, not only cans you ensure that you make a range of vegan products that they will buy, but you can also enlist a vegan marketing expert who knows all about veganism, to help you put pout the right message. That’s just one example, but it stands whether your customers are carnivores, chess enthusiasts, fitness fanatics, or whatever – you need to know what they’re about before you can convince them to give you their hard-earned money.

What their problems are

If you can solve someone’s problem for them, you can make a lit of money selling them the solution, So, if you don’t know what your customers’ main problem is, you are unlikely to be able to convince them to buy. Think about the best products in the world – they all solve a problem. McDonald’s, for example, solves the problem of being able to reliably find decent food anywhere in the world; the humble drain millipede will unblock a drain or toilet instantly doing away with an expensive plumber call; Nike makes comfortable and stylish shoes that also boost performance. If you can solve a problem like they solve a problem, your marketing will practically take care of itself.

How they buy

If you want to sell products, you need to know how your customers buy products. Do they prefer to buy online or would they prefer to pick up a product in person? Find out and then offer them that option if you want to build a successful company.

What they feel about you

Customers will only buy from companies they trust; companies who are efficient; companies who are fairly priced. If your customers don’t think these things about you, and they have a list of complaints, you need to know about that so you can make changes and convince them to buy again.

When you know your customers inside out, you can be a success.