The most successful business strategies are customer centered. The customer is the hero of their own story and your business is there to guide them.

In order to lead them to where they want to be, you must understand them. Here are a few ways to get a clear picture of your audience.

1. Analyze your current customer base.

Whether your customer base can be reached via email, social media, texting, or old fashioned mail, learn who your current customers are. What are their age ranges? Do they have common interests or similar lifestyles? Do they tend to be male or female? Find out all you can about them (without being too invasive, of course).

2. Build a target audience persona.

Imagine you are creating a customer. He or she can be your guide when making company decisions. Compare your idea to the persona—does it match up?

Your persona should include details that will be helpful to reference, such as age, location, gender, occupation, education, and income level. Your current customer base and persona should closely align. Every team member should have access to your target audience details.

3. Compare your business with the competition.

Get a feel for who your competition is reaching. Look through their social platforms, read content on their website, and watch how they market. If it’s the same audience as your company, maybe you can learn a better (or not-so-better) way of connecting with your customers

Feel, Think, Do

Now that you have a clear picture of who you are trying to reach, it’s time to connect with your customers.

First connect by grabbing their emotions with your story, then meet their needs and wants by offering a solution to a problem. At that point, they will be willing to respond to your call to action (buy a product, sign up for a seminar, etc.).

Related: We recently shared how important it is to tell the story of your business.

After your customers have gone on this journey, your job isn’t over. You must continue to ask yourself what are your customer’s needs and wants, what keeps them up at night, and what solution can you offer. Just as you and your company will grow over the years, so will your customers. As long as you stay connected with your audience, you will have loyal customers for years to come.