Why do some companies invest millions in reaching out to people who at the point of outreach are not legally capable of using their products? This is because they know how to adopt the strategy we want to look at. It is a strategy that ensures that they are preparing and nurturing their clients of tomorrow today. How would you like to integrate this strategy into your business?
Without mentioning specific names, some of the products these companies provide are controversial. They may be alcohol-based products, tobacco, or other services, but they are not throwing their money away because they are laying the foundation of making their product attractive enough for future clients. This method can be adopted by any business.
Define Your Service and Customers
The first thing to do is to define your service and determine those that are using such service at present. Below are some questions to consider when doing this.
Who are your clients?
Look at their social status, economic reach, buying power, age bracket, gender and just about anything that will supply more information on them. The more things you consider, the better your next plan of action would be.
Project into the Future and Segment
Once you know who your clients are or who your products are for, you invariably know those that are not your clients or the people your products are not made for. You will also find it easier to know why the product is not meant for such people at this present moment. More importantly, you will be able to segment the closest set of people that can become your clients in the nearest future. You can go further to determine other segments of soon to be clients and the timeline for them becoming clients. This is the most critical part in adopting this strategy.
Compartmentalize
Let us focus on those that are closest to becoming clients; these are the people that would be next in line with regards to future sales. They become potential business leads that are more than likely to translate into sales sometime in the future.
The Big Question
How do you reach out to this segment and a lock them in, ensuring that a high percentage of them become real clients once they are able?
The first thing to address is why they are not actual clients at the present. There is not much you can do if it is because of legal constraints but let us assume that your service/product is neither ethically or morally controversial.
It may be because of economic constraints. If this is the case, the next question you should tackle is how you add value to this group to help bring them to the economic level where they can become clients. If this question is too big to consider, the reverse might just work for you i.e. how do I create a “sub” product/service that will meet their present needs, get them on board and set them up to become clients/buyers of the prime product/service.
Now even when there are legal issues involved, like age barriers, you can still create strategies that would nurture them.
One Big Word
By now you should be getting the MO to this strategy but if there is one word to sum it all up, that word would be ENGAGEMENT. There are different levels and types of engagement.
Social Engagement
There are companies that form clubs, internet groups, organize outings targeted at this segment. They get them involved and very conscious of their brand.
Sponsored Engagement
Why do companies target children? They know the power children have over parents, especially, when it has to do with a product or service specifically designed for kids. This is an example of sponsored engagement. It is the kids that are sponsoring their parents and making them engage with the product or service. This is strategic because in almost all cases, it is the parents that do the buying. Sponsored engagement can also work sideways (a colleague “sponsoring” another colleague) or in the true UP2DOWN way (like a parent sponsoring a child, someone who is capable influencing a less capable person). This is the opposite of the DOWN2UP way we mentioned earlier (kid sponsoring a parent).
Investment Engagement
This is when the company “invests” in that segment. They create an engagement platform like a program that adds real value to their future clients.
Everything we mentioned tends to develop customer loyalty. They need to be well thought out and executed and their results would guarantee future sales.
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