Customer segments
In order to develop targeted products and address target customers with relevant topics, it is important that you know your target customers well. Today, target groups are much more differentiated than they used to be. There are also now many more communication channels.
Think of the social media platforms, the many trade magazines or the inordinate number of TV channels. The better you know your target groups, the more accurately you can assess which channels are best for reaching them.
However, the sales process is not always direct. In the B2B sector in particular, you have to take into account not only the buying customers but also recommenders and tendering bodies. The buying decision processes are becoming more complex.
Example 1: Municipal civil engineering projects are usually tendered by municipalities, while local civil engineering companies purchase the products after winning the bid.
Example 2: Some private construction projects are defined by general contractors or architects. They recommend the manufacturers of products to be incorporated. Subcontractors are bound by these recommendations and must buy what general contractors or architects specify. Although the subcontractors are the buying customers, the decision makers are the general contractors.
It is therefore important to identify buying customers and those who do the recommending.
However, “local authorities” or “general contractors”, for example, are not people, but organizations. As long as we do not know how decisions are made in these organizations, it is hardly possible to implement target customer orientation.
Not only is it important for you to know how your target customers behave in the physical world, but it is also important for you to understand how your target customers behave digitally. Where and how do they move? When do they use which applications?