Do You Appeal To Your Ideal Guests?
Good morning folks
I’m trying something new with the weekly posts!
As a small business owner, I’m faced with challenges each week that I work towards resolving.
These challenges are not unique to me or my type of business, so I’m going to share them with you in the hope that you may get something useful out of them to help grow your business.
(Or, you may have discovered a better way than I have, which I’d love to hear about!)
Last week I shared the importance of defining your ideal guest/ customer (see post here).
Today I want to share with you what I’ve discovered about how to appeal to the needs and wants of your ideal guest.
How To Appeal To My Ideal Customer
I’ve been getting regular visitors to my website (www.spirenz.com), but a lot of the visitors leave before buying anything.
So, I’ve been trying to figure out – how can I appeal to my ideal customer.
What I’ve gleaned, from the marketing & sales skills I’ve been learning, is that buyers look for products based on their needs and requirements,
BUT choose one product over another based on their emotions.
This means they will make a decision based on how they feel about the product and company they are buying from.
Example
By way of example, when I look for holiday accommodation for my family, I normally have some specific requirements of what I’m looking for.
When I travel with my husband and kids I want a 2 bedroom property, with a separate lounge and kitchen, centrally located to where we are going and I normally have a rough budget I’m working with.
These are my needs.
Once I find a number of properties that meet these requirements, my emotional brain looks for things that we would find appealing as a family.
For example, does the property look inviting, would we feel comfortable there, does it look like a place where I can imagine myself and my family having a relaxing holiday?
The more I can identify in the listing the things that show me that we will have a relaxing holiday, the more likely I am to book it.
How Do You Appeal To Your Buyers Emotions?
The first rule of marketing is to talk about the benefits – not the features.
Benefits help customers understand why they should buy one product over another.
Features and Benefits Table
If you’re having trouble (as I have been) figuring out the benefits, ask yourself this question – “Why do you have that feature?”.
Talking about the benefits allows your potential guests to imagine enjoying themselves at your property.
What Description Sounds Better?
Let me walk you through an example.
Features:
2 Bedroom, semi-detached apartment located in the forest. Heat pump, full kitchen. Walks and tracks nearby.
Or
Benefits:
Tranquil nature setting. Our toasty warm cabin is spacious and comfortable for your whole family to enjoy. Only 5 mins walk from the renowned Queen Charlotte track – you will delight in spotting fantails and kereru along the way.
Emotive and descriptive words
Using emotive and descriptive words helps your potential guest create a mental movie in their mind.
The easier you make it for them to imagine themselves at your place, the more likely they are going to book!
Figuring Out The Benefits for Spire NZ
For Spire NZ, it took me a really long time to work out how to talk about the benefits of using our shampoo bars. I was struggling to differentiate the features from the benefits, but here are a few from my latest list (which is still a work in progress):
PS – My website is still full of features, rather than benefits! I’ve only just figured this out (I thought that my features were benefits!) – so I have some work to do to include the benefits! Watch this space!
I’d love to hear what your property’s number one benefit is!
Have a fantastic week!
Till next time
Melissa
Founder of Spire NZ
melissa@spirenz.com or find me on LinkedIn