The Pre-Customer Report: Finding Them before They Know They’re Looking for You

Whether or not you’re a Tom Cruise fan is probably something not oft brought up in social media-themed blog posts, but we’re here to break molds.

If you remember a certain 2002 summer blockbuster, Minority Report, then our concept of the “pre-customer” might seem less sci-fi and lend itself more to an of-the-moment believability.  Like the fictional “PreCrime police unit” made arrests before crimes were committed, we work, at Leadify, to find your customer before they start looking for you, before they even know to look for you.

Finding the pre-customer is like discovering an authentic Monet at a garage sell, invaluable and profitable.  What business doesn’t want to unearth a discovery like that? Certainly, you intend to be successful and that becomes possible with growth. From customers and clients to brand awareness and recognition, expansion requires understanding the value of reaching a broader audience, and by that we mean, the pre-customer.

One of our favorite in-house examples of finding the pre-customer is as follows:

There was a high school senior in California searching for the perfect college to no avail.  She was a talented horseback rider looking for a university that offered a prestigious riding program, as well as a strong, values-based educational atmosphere.

She was on Twitter (as are many young people) and came across our constructed tweets for a local university, Mississippi College, highlighting the horseback program and great atmosphere.

Cut to a year later, and she’s moving into the dorms of the MC campus.

Living in California, our Mississippi-based, private college might as well have been non-existent, and to her, it was; therefore, she exemplifies the pre-customer.

Without a doubt, finding those who aren’t looking for you, understandably, seems an intimidating feat requiring a futuristic, Minority Report-type of solution, but not only is it possible, it’s achievable through social media.