You’ve probably heard how important it is to be able to stand in the shoes of your customer – to be able to see things from their perspective, when promoting your business. Doing this helps you to see the problems they face, which allows you to create the best solution to those problems. It enables you to learn their language and to use the words that they use and understand, in your marketing. Without getting into the shoes of your customers, you could create a service that no one actually wants, or promote it in language that means nothing to your target market.

Standing in the shoes of your customers is not a new concept. It’s something we do every day at Appletree, when we’re helping our clients to promote their services (when we get into the shoes of our customers’ customers) and when we promote our own services. When you’re in Marketing, this is a concept you learn early on.

It is also something that I encourage all my clients to do, when they’re doing their own marketing. It’s a simple concept, yet still some people don’t speak the language of their customers, or they seem to focus on their own agenda, rather than that of the customer. Because it’s such a simple concept, I have been left at a loss sometimes, wondering why some people don’t follow such an easy rule.

Fortunately I recently discovered why some people struggle to get into the shoes of their customers. People with autism share three main areas of difficulty, which are:

• difficulty with social communication
• difficulty with social interaction
• difficulty with social imagination.

The last one, social imagination, it what helps us step into the shoes of our customers. It allows us to understand and predict the behaviour of other people. It also helps us to make sense of abstract ideas, and to imagine situations outside our immediate daily routine.

The National Autistic Society website says of social imagination: “We have trouble working out what other people know. We have more difficulty guessing what other people are thinking.” It goes on to explain that social imagination allows people to understand and predict other people’s behaviour, make sense of abstract ideas, and to imagine situations outside our immediate daily routine. Difficulties with social imagination mean that people with autism find it hard to understand and interpret other people’s thoughts, feelings and actions. It’s hard for them to step into the shoes of their customers. (The NAS also say that difficulties with social imagination should not be confused with a lack of imagination. Many people with autism are very creative.)

Now I’m not saying that if you struggle to see things from the point of view of your customers, that you have some form of autism. I’m saying that knowing this has made it easier for me to understand why some people find it hard to write marketing copy that will speak directly to their potential customers, or why others create services that just don’t sell.

The other thing that happened when I learnt about social imagination is that the friend who told me about it had a light bulb moment. We’d been working out who his ideal clients are. “For years people have been telling me that marketing is easy,” he told me. “They say you have to stand in the shoes of your customer, but I’ve never been able to do that, because I struggle with social imagination.” He continued, “Now that I know who my ideal clients really are, it won’t be a problem anymore.”

If you’d like to have that light bulb moment, find out who your ideal clients are, and see how to make your marketing so much easier – and more effective – this year, then book your place on the workshop I’m running on 26 January 2016. All the details and online booking are here. It’s just £25 for a few hours of interaction – and we’ll even feed you! Stop struggling with your marketing and come and join us!