Making Customers Eager

Apple has been training its target audience to be interested in its events and reveals from the very beginning – these people are always interested in the mysterious new products the company is revealing each year, they hold their breath in anticipation, and then critique both the products or their features, as well as the presentations themselves.

However, most importantly, this audience has been trained to queue up as early as possible, because the store might run out of products if they’re too late, and they’ll have to wait a few weeks while everyone who was early is already enjoying their newest Apple product.

At this point, this anticipation has become very ingrained in the fabric of many audiences. While it might not work for everyone, the biggest fans are always ready and willing to get the newest releases. They set reminders on their calendars and share these events with everyone on their social media, a true example of a fan. They don’t mind behaving in this way because they get as much value out of the device as out of the experience itself.

This means that businesses should be looking to create fans of their own companies as well – and the best way to do it is by answering three simple questions.

The best way to find out the ideal customer is through online research, surveys, and interviews. Businesses should identify a really small niche market, and from there, they can accurately guess which brands that audience is loyal to.

For example, if the ideal customers are people who grab a coffee every morning on their way to work from the same coffee chain and then grab another drink on their way home, these people have been trained to frequent those locations. This has been ingrained in them through different incentives and benefits that the chain offers to its regular consumers.

After figuring out the ideal customer, the business has to figure out what it wants the customers to do – and the answer shouldn’t simply be “purchasing products from the company. To get truly loyal customers interested in the brand and the journey offered to them, the target audience has to be incentivized with something they find valuable.

An example of this is how some brands set up frequent “games” for the target audience that require the consumer to sign up or perform a certain task within a set period of time. When they do, they get rewarded for it – and they end up enjoying both the products and the journey.

Finally, businesses should figure out what big brands are the customer base already loyal to and what training they have undergone by those brands. That way, they understand some of the feelings the audience has and the benefits they get from participating in that journey, and the business can use some of those same or similar strategies to its audience.