144 • 100 GREAT BUSINESS IDEAS
Decide who your ideal customers are—then decide where they go,
what they do, and what they want. Use this information to target
them precisely at key points in their everyday lives.
The idea
Precision marketing involves asking four questions—who, what,
when, and how—to create a sharply effective marketing strategy.
ABN, a bank wishing to court wealthy Dutch customers, created
a lounge at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport for the exclusive use
of its Preferred Banking clients (account holders with savings or
investments exceeding €50,000, or a monthly income exceeding
€5,000). The elite lounge was open daily from 6 am to 10 pm,
providing meeting space, internet access, refreshments, foreign
currency exchange, and a place to relax amid the rush of traveling.
With this project, ABN showed a clear understanding of precision
marketing:
-^ Who its customers were: comfortably wealthy individuals traveling
from the Netherlands.
-^ What they wanted: a place to enjoy relaxation and luxury when
traveling.
-^ When they wanted it: between 6 in the morning and 10 in the
evening, when the majority of fl ights depart and arrive.
-^ How to deliver it: creating an exclusive lounge that provided the
amenities valued by affl uent travelers.