You Need to Let Your Customer Change Your Mind

Is marketing about changing minds? I think it’s a common misconception…

I do believe that certain elements of advertising are indeed meant to change minds, or at a minimum, persuade consumers to lean one way versus another.

But maybe it’s just a misconception about what marketing actually is. The reality is that advertising is only a piece of a marketing strategy.

I am taking a Marketing class right now as part of my MBA program, and look at me over here actually learning something!

I’ve had so many takeaways from the class, but one of the most significant is that marketing strategy is all about finding your target market – hence the term “marketing” – and positioning your entire strategy around them.

And since structure follows strategy, and customer-centricity is the way of the future…your whole company should revolve around your target audience and what they want – not what you want to provide them.

The great thing about honing in on your ideal customer is that you don’t really have to change their mind because they’re going to want your product! You just have to tell them about it.

So marketing isn’t really about changing minds. It’s about finding the customers whose minds you don’t have to change.

Another interesting takeaway from this class is that marketing is not actually about disseminating information – it’s about collecting it. Then interpreting it and using it to determine what you put out.

Marketing is not only finding your target audience but also finding out what they want.

How do you find out what your customer wants? Market research.

One way to do that is to find out what they’re typing into Google!

Search engine research puts you in direct contact with your potential customer and gives you great, organic data about what they’re typing into their search bar when no one’s looking.

If you’re looking to create a marketing strategy, start with the customer.

Don’t set out to change your customer’s mind. Set out to let them change yours.