3 Ways of Reaching and Engaging Transformational Consumers — Lionesses of Africa

by Onyinye Umeokoro – FutureSoft Team

In order to continue to survive, businesses need to continuously reach new consumers and continuously engage these consumers to boost that bottom-line. If you are reading this then you probably own and run your own business or plan to own and run your own business in the near future and want to learn how to attract these consumers that will help you fatten up that bottom line. What you may not know is that you are most likely looking for transformational consumers.

What are Transformational consumers?

Tara-Nicholle Nelson describes transformational consumers as citizens of the world and web who view life as a continual series of personal disruption campaigns: behaviour-change projects to live healthier, wealthier, wiser lives.

Now you may be wondering why transformational consumers should be the target for your business, well here is why….

Transformational consumers are:

1. Constantly working on themselves in the form of wellness, personal development or financial success.

2. Taking concrete steps to achieve goals through things like 30-days Challenges, investment apps, and online education

3. They are early adopters of new products and technologies that they believe will further their transformational aspirations.

4. They are also highly influential on the buying behaviour of everyone around them

In the United States of America for example, transformational consumers are 50% of all adults and spend 4 Trillion USD annually (which is about 25% of US consumer spending). It is evident that these consumers have a huge purchasing power and are worth targeting for businesses in the US.

Consumer trends are quite similar in Nigeria, although annual consumer spend is significantly lower….so now the question is how do you capture and retain these transformational consumers that are said to exist somewhere out there?

In a world where there is increasing pressure on businesses to stay relevant and constantly improve their products and services, positioning and differentiating your business from your competition is more crucial than ever.

You can do this by redefining your business as one that is focused on solving a problem, interested in helping the consumer achieve their goals and dedicated to their growth and life transitions.

I’ve put together 3 ways of reaching and engaging transformational customers…

1. Rethink your Customer

This first part is a bit bulky, but I will try to summarize as much as I can and write more about this in subsequent posts. Rethinking your customer focuses on understanding your customer’s journey. It is important to look at your customers not just as the people who currently pay for your products and services, but also as the people who have the problem your company exists to solve.

The process of rethinking your customer should begin with customer research and mapping out the customer journey so you understand their pain points and know when the best time for your intervention is.

There are several ways that you can go about carrying out customer research and the route you decide to take should depend on the industry you are playing in as well as your budget. Let me know if you need a few pointers on what would work best for you.

Ultimately, the goal of customer research should be to gain a better insight into your customers and how best to reach and engage them online.Good research allows you to create content that resonates with consumers, because you know what their exact problem is and how best to solve it. The better you know your customer, the more tailored your content can be and the higher your engagement will be.

2. Rethink what you sell

It is important that you begin to position your products and services as transformational. So, let’s say you sell notebooks….guess what you need to market them in a way that suggests that you are not just selling notebooks — rather you are selling and promoting a lifestyle that has the potential of improving the mental health of the consumer and helps keep track of the consumer and his / her transition growth process by journaling.

Tell beautiful, engaging and aspirational stories of transformation with your products and services. Look for several creative ways to tell the same story over and over again in such a way that you keep the consumer inspired and wanting more.

3. Rethink your Competition

A lot of business owners see or think of competition as people or businesses that sell or render similar products and services — this is not necessarily a bad thing, but what it does is that significantly limits you in your thinking with regards to your target segment and with regards to the barriers to entry they may face.

It’s time to widen your thoughts and address barriers to entry as well as buying objections when thinking about how you can reach transformational consumers.

Reaching and engaging transformational customers will require you to think outside of the box and be innovative. Here’s an example…..A Travel Agency in Nigeria needs to look beyond other agencies as their competition and take into account the fact that a lot of people who would like to travel believe they cannot afford it and don’t know that there are fun ways to save for travel. Creating a product or service that solves this challenge sets you apart in your industry.

Onyinye Umeokoro is a member of the FutureSoft Team. Future Software Resources Ltd. (Futuresoft), is one of Nigeria’s leading digital & technology solutions companies, providing a broad range of solutions for the scaling African enterprise, to consistently attract and retain its target audience, optimize its processes and increase its bottom line. Futuresoft CEO and founder, Nkemdilim Uwaje Begho, is a seasoned Information Technology professional with over 15 years of industry experience in Africa’s largest emerging economy with a deep purpose and focus on bridging the digital divide and transforming Africa by harnessing the benefits of digital.