Understanding Your Audience: Identifying Ready Buyers
You know what most people get wrong about ready buyers. They tend to overthink who those buyers are. They think that because they have a huge audience, they’re bound to have someone who’s ready to buy.
But what they fail to realise is that not every follower, no matter how loyal, is a potential buyer. And that’s why you need to understand your audience so you can identify those with the highest potential. To truly understand your audience and segment them into categories of readiness, you need to know where they are in their journey.
Are they still getting to know your brand. Have they shown interest before but didn’t buy anything. Are they returning customers.
All of these questions are important for you to segment your audience and identify the ones with the highest potential. You want to really focus on those who have made multiple purchases with you in the past or shown significant intent. This would make them easier to target through retargeting ads, for example. Sometimes it may be hard to distinguish between those ready buyers and others who are just genuinely interested in what you have to offer.
It’s not always as black and white as saying one person is a buyer and another isn’t. There are also others who may take some time before making that purchase decision - we all do it from time-to-time. The way I see it, and while there are clues like abandoned carts and wishlists that could hint at intent, there is still uncertainty around whether or not someone will buy.
The best thing you can do when identifying ready buyers is use all the tools at your disposal. Go through your analytics, social media data, user behaviour insights, purchase history records - whatever it takes. Once you’ve identified them, it’ll be much easier for you target them with tailored promotions that will actually work.
Crafting Compelling Offers: What Appeals to Buyers
I’ve noticed a lot of well-meaning folks think that all buyers want is the lowest possible price. I used to fall into this trap too. But while discounts and deals always turn heads, I think the reality’s a little more complex - especially in today’s market where even buyers have a conscience and want to know where their money is going. The truth is that buyers are increasingly interested in value over price.
Most people can relatively spot a gimmick from a mile away and hate being deceived - makes sense, who likes to feel cheated. So when it comes to fashion, your offer has got to make sense to them and your story’s got to align with what they believe in or value. And this doesn’t always mean having something meaningful or deep to say (though if you do, there’s an audience for it).
It could simply be that you share their love of fashion trends or the colours you have on offer appeal to them. What works rather well, I’ve found, is typically bringing exclusive access into the mix. A ‘just for you’ or ‘because you’re special’ vibe tends to get people going. If you’ve ever met a woman who claims she loves being hated because it means she’s important enough to be thought about, you’ll see how exclusivity can work wonders here.
When buyers see that what you’re offering is uniquely suited to them or their needs, they’re more likely to take the bait (not because they’re fish but because they feel like they matter). And in many ways, isn’t that what people are really looking for. But sometimes, there will be no logic or reason behind why one offer worked and another didn’t. If anyone tells you otherwise, they’re probably lying about having all the answers or being able to predict buyer behaviour with any certainty - not even AI has managed it yet so humans definitely can’t.
In these moments of doubt (which should really be every day), it pays not just to trust your instinct but also listen and ask questions.
Timing is Everything: When to Launch Targeted Promotions
So many retailers rely on this calendar-based mindset of only having promotions around a certain time. So they miss out on a key opportunity to encourage shoppers to spend, or more importantly, get them back as repeat customers. The key is that you don’t have to stick to a certain date. You want to know what’s right for your brand and customers.
How do you find the best timing for your promotions. This really depends on your brand and industry. Most sales promotions are possibly based on an ongoing cycle - it’s end-of-season, off-season, back-to-school, festival-specific, Black Friday/Cyber Monday/Diwali/Christmas/New Years’/Republic Day or an annual anniversary sale. These dates are good because consumers anticipate these sales and tend to plan their purchases around the same.
In fact, it’s almost expected to have one during this time (and not having one can be a big no-no). But you’re then facing off against everyone else in your industry too. The way I see it, so as someone who has worked in retail for over a decade, i know that these periods become extremely competitive and you’re constantly fighting tooth and nail against another retailer who is likely selling similar products with very similar discounts. Here’s where you need to think differently (sometimes).
Running periodic promotions means you’re always top-of-mind for customers and are likely bringing them back more often than if you did a big annual sale only once or twice a year. I’ve seen smaller brands run site-wide monthly sales, which brings down their revenue and value as a ‘premium’ brand but gets people returning each month in anticipation of something new being available at a discount. But I’ve also seen premium brands running only two annual sales so they can still keep up with their core audience while attracting new customers with attractive discounts during these times.
More or less. There’s really no one-size-fits-all approach here because each brand caters to its own unique customer base with their own spending habits. It comes down to who you’re targeting - are they deal hunters or full-price buyers.
Are they looking for convenience and comfort in shopping from home or do they want to step out for the experience of visiting a store. What makes it most appealing for them to return again. Once you have answers to those questions, you're one step closer to knowing what works best for your business - short-term gains from ongoing regular sales versus long-term customer retention through larger annual or bi-annual events.
Leveraging Social Media: Reaching Buyers Where They Are
I see many businesses still treat social media like a loudspeaker, yelling their brand messages and sales pitches in every direction. It seems like the trouble with that approach - aside from being very 2012 - is it simply doesn’t work. Comes Across As modern buyers are everywhere, all the time, and if you want to catch their attention, you have to stop shouting at them.
What most brands do with social media is talk about themselves. It’s honestly a bit self-absorbed how much brands love talking about themselves and their products. What’s far more effective on social channels is when you engage instead of announce.
That means having conversations with people who are interested in similar things, who need your help or just want to be heard by someone who actually cares about what they’re saying. And I know what you’re thinking - that sounds like a lot of work, and it is. But remember that this is likely part of being part of a community, not simply promoting your product or service.
Social media success isn’t as simple as buying ads or boosting posts either (although those can help). Platforms like Instagram and TikTok are now focused on social selling so marketing spend needs to increase. Google has also changed its algorithm so high authority links like YouTube videos and LinkedIn posts show up higher than direct URLs. Again, this makes things complicated for small business owners who don’t necessarily understand these changes or know how to keep up with them.
So if you’re going at it alone or have limited resources, focus on engagement rather than reach. Provide value to your online communities by being helpful and fun, not just promotional. To really make your mark on any platform today requires authenticity and creativity, which can’t be manufactured or bought through advertising spend alone anymore.
Measuring Success: Analyzing the Impact of Your Promotions
Measuring Success: Analyzing the Impact of Your Promotions Now, one of the biggest mistakes I see people make is assuming their promotions are hitting all the right notes if they manage to bring in a little profit here and there. But there’s a lot more to running an effective promotion than simply putting products on sale and praying for the best. You need to know what’s working, what’s not, and how you can double down on what works.
To measure success, I think it’s important to first figure out what success means to you. Maybe it’s getting rid of excess inventory, or maybe it’s attracting new customers to your store. Maybe you have something else in mind altogether. Whatever your goals may be, make sure that your promotions are crafted with those goals in mind.
A quick post-promo audit will tell you how well each campaign performed, where you went wrong, what you could have done better or differently - and these insights will help you create more impactful campaigns moving forward. Don’t be afraid to try something new either. Test different discount structures and events on different products, keep only the ones that generate your desired results (like traffic or sales), and tweak them as needed based on performance data. This process involves some uncertainty - sometimes even a risk (of alienating some customers for example).
That can’t be helped but this is relatively a good way to learn about what works for your business and customer base. Remember: analysis is key. If you don’t know what you’re measuring, how often you want to measure performance, and when exactly you plan on reviewing those results - you’ll find yourself making decisions based on assumptions instead of evidence-backed facts. So set up clear metrics before launching any campaign - so when it comes time for post-campaign analysis (something I highly recommend doing regularly), both numbers AND meaning behind those numbers are easy enough for everyone involved in running this business together.
Continuous Improvement: Adapting Strategies for Better Results
One of the mistakes with all this is nearly always that people think you can just set it and forget it. All you have to do is come up with a good plan, implement that plan and then keep repeating the same actions until you get good results. I wish it were that simple, in some ways.
The thing is our environments keep changing, markets evolve, tools change and so many things can happen. Sometimes your vision, goals or strategies may also change, and it’s important to be able to reflect those changes in your marketing plans as well. Not only that, as your campaigns evolve over time with external changes, audiences are likely to also react differently.
It’s probably a good idea not to take things for granted and change course if needed. Sure, data can help us make decisions but beyond the numbers, it’s a lot about understanding how these changes may have affected your audience differently. There’s going to be a lot of trial and error along the way as you learn more about user behaviour in these changing environments.
And while that can be frustrating sometimes, it’s usually worth experimenting a bit with what works better and what doesn’t before making a decision. The first step towards having a fluid strategy like this is to track metrics regularly. Look at what worked and what didn’t work so well so you can continue doing more of what worked and try something new where you feel like you could do better.
Be careful not to let one number from just one quarter scare you or convince you - look at the longer term stats and trust those more than the occasional outlier.