As consumers, we make many different decisions on a given day. We may choose to shop at one retailer instead of another, online instead of off, product A instead of product B. The reasons we make those decisions will vary, from decision to decision, and from person to person.

It’s the marketers job to try to hone in on those decisions, and even better, hone in on the reasons behind them. Once we do, we isolate common themes and figure out what most people are thinking when they make the decision to choose our product over the competition, or the other way around.

We then take that information and use it in our messages, rephrasing it to tell consumers what they want to hear.

For example, I wrote a post a few weeks ago about Verizon Fios and their ads about the speed of their network compared to others. Verizon knows that many customers that are unhappy with their internet are unhappy because it’s too slow. And so they use that knowledge to deliver a message that is more likely to trigger something in a consumer’s mind, more likely to get their attention, because it’s something that they have thought about in the past.

It’s amazing to me that so many companies talk about this benefit and that benefit of their product or service with no idea what it is that consumers want to hear. Even if you can’t afford expensive marketing firms, surveys, or focus groups, you have a whole world of consumers at your fingertips. Social media has broken down those barriers between companies and consumers.

Want to know what your customers are thinking when they buy your product? Ask them.