Having a strong relationship with your customers is imperative in the running of any successful business.t. There are lots of ‘must-dos’ in customer relationship management, but there are a number of questions that every brand needs to answer to set themselves up to deliver a great experience. After all, how can you improve your engagement before “who is your brand?” and “who are your customers”? In this blog, we’ll cover are some essential points to help you figure out the answers to these questions. And before you dive in, don’t forget to follow our blog for the second article of this series, all about improving your customer relationships.

Define Your Brand

First thing’s first. Before taking any other steps, you should take some time to define what your brand is and what it stands for. For example, ask yourself “What are the core values and missions of my company?”. While answering this question, try to define both your strengths and weaknesses. When defining your brand, be as clear as possible about how the brand and business is described; every piece of information is valuable in shaping your business, so nothing should be left out.

Other questions you can ask to help you define your brand include “why should a customer choose us and not another option?” and “what differentiates our brand from others?” A point of difference will help your brand to stand out in its marketplace, especially if there is a lot of competition. Of course, your product, service, and overall brand experience will always be a major player in what defines you,, but you should think about things that you could do to improve or add to the mix to make that point of difference even more enticing. 

You should also ask questions such as “What is the personality of my brand?”. Brand personality is a set of human characteristics that are attributed to a brand name. This personality can be shaped by the tone of your voice in advertising copy, design style, colour schemes, etc. Your brand’s personality can be happy, formal, young, mature, etc. The important thing is to create an emotional connection with your customers. You can either analyse your brand as it currently exists in order to hone in on your personality, or you can conjure up a new strategy to build the brand personality you want to express.

Know Your Customers

Creating a profile of your ideal customer is important for every step your business will take going into the future. Many big business decisions will be made based upon your customer profile – product choice and marketing style, just to name two. Your brand identity and customer profile are deeply connected. For example, if your company believes in giving back a percentage of profits to charity, these activities could impact the type of customers your business attracts.

After defining your company, it is time to get to know your customers better or to nail down the kind of customer you want to attract. If you’re already in business, start with defining your current customers, so you can also work on accurately identifying your exact target market. Who is your target market? Who do your products and services attract? While defining your current or future customers, you can ask yourself questions like “What are my customers’ needs?”. You should answer this question based on your ability to fulfill such demands.

Try to map out your customers based on demographics, psychographics, behaviour, age, interests, gender and more. This mapping will help you to create your ideal customer persona.

To maintain the most accurate customer profile possible in order to keep delivering a great customer experience, survey your audience consistently to get their feedback about your business. You could use free online survey tools or offer short feedback forms in your shop, restaurant, or shop. Keep in mind that the shorter your feedback forms are, the more likely customers are to complete them. So, let customers know ahead of time that it won’t take long, try to be precise with your questions, and perhaps even offer an incentive (like the chance to win a $100 gift card to spend with you) as a thank you for taking the time to provide their valuable feedback.