So find out what problems your customers know they have, and be super clear about how you’re solving them.
Are you doing something entirely new? Or are you doing something faster and cheaper than it’s been done until now? Make your value clear, whether it’s on your website, your LinkedIn page, Twitter, Facebook, a flier, or in person.
Step 3: Meet your customers and ask a lot of questions
I said before that education feels like a lot of work. But you should spend a lot of time educating—yourself.
Networking events, online forums, meet-ups, conferences, the local diner—learning about your customers is key. Depending on your industry, these are all great ways to find out if your customer base knows they have the problem you identified in Step 2. How are they solving it now? What solutions are they using? What are their goals? They may surprise you.
And in the process of having these conversations, there’s a chance you’ll build rapport and gain a customer.
Step 4: Talk to your customers in their own language
Every industry has its own jargon. This can work against you (if you use your own), or it can work for you (if you talk like your customers).
If your business’s website is your main form of marketing, use terms that are meaningful to your customers on your homepage. For example, if you’ve identified that your customers are mostly real estate agents, you might choose a website header that says “Drone Real Estate Photography in Miami” rather than “Miami Drones.”
If you have the resources to maintain a blog, you can use it to showcase your work, but be sure to focus on addressing problems that you know your customers have.
The same concept applies if you meet your potential customers at networking events, trade shows, or the local diner. Step 5: Don’t discount the channels used by other businesses
LinkedIn, Craigslist, Twitter, Facebook, and even Angie’s List are some of the main ways that customers find solutions to their business problems.
Step 6: Be a pro
We all know that word of mouth can make or break a business. If you’re a pro at every step of the way, your clients will recommend you to others, without any time or expense on your part.
So what does it mean to be a pro in the drone industry? It means operating safely (and showing your customers that you do). It means having insurance, just like professionals in other industries. It means meeting regulatory requirements.
Little things can make a huge impact—filling out a scope of work in advance, for example, will show your customers that you take them seriously.