Criminal Minds And Your Marketing – What You Can Learn From The FBI’s BAU

The hit show "Criminal Minds" centers on the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit, a highly specialized group of agents that profile serial killers based on their behavioral traits. Each week on the show, the BAU uses their behavioral profiling skills to help local police track down and apprehend serial killers. The show is really interesting, as it exposes the behind the scenes methodology that the FBI uses to apprehend the most dangerous of psychos. Through their advanced profiling techniques, the agents track down the killers and bring them to justice, all within 60 minutes of course! As I was watching the show the other day, it occurred to me that if you really want to be successful growing your business, you should be applying these very same profiling techniques to your marketing. Here's the 6 step process profilers use, and how you can adapt this to your marketing efforts:

Step 1 - Profiling Inputs

In this step, the profiler collects and assesses all of the materials related to the case. This is the most important step, as all of the information that you capture here is critical to the other steps being successful. From a marketing perspective, the first step is to really answer the question, "Who is it that I am trying to attract as a client?", or, more specifically, "Who is my target market?"

Step 2 - Decision Process Models

The second step involves arranging all of the information into a logical and coherent pattern. This is where you need to get really specific with respect to your target market. Just like profiling, the more specific you can be in this step, the easier it will be to find what you are looking for. If you want to attract great clients, be very specific with your target market profile, as it will make it the following steps much easier!

Step 3 - Crime Assessment

This step usually involves reconstructing the series of events and behaviors of the criminal as well as the victim that led to the crime in question. So, how does this apply to your marketing? Well, this is where you assess your business as well as your target client. What product or service do you provide? What is the need that you meet? What is the benefit? From a client perspective, why will they buy from you? What is the benefit to them? Why will they choose your company vs. another option? All of these things are important to understand when you are assessing the buying process as it relates to your business and your potential target client.

Step 4 - Building the Profile

The fourth step involves building the profile of the criminal. In marketing, this is where you describe your "ideal target client". Again, the more specific you are here, the easier it will be to attract the clients that you want, and the more likely it will be that your marketing is on target.

Step 5 - The Investigation

This step involves sending the actual criminal profile out to the local agencies to assist in their investigations. This is where you, as the marketer, identify the best ways to target your ideal clients. What marketing weapons are the best to reach your targets? Who can you partner with to reach them? What message will you utilize to attract your target client?

Step 6 - The Apprehension

Finally, once the criminal is caught, the profiler compares the original profile to the actual profile of the criminal. Once you have "captured" your new client, it's helpful to have a solid understanding of how they found you, and what prompted them to buy. Equipped with this information, you can make incremental improvements to your marketing system, so that over time, you'll get better and better at profiling your target clients or customers, and therefore will be more successful with your marketing.

So, next time you're watching "Criminal Minds", pay attention to the process they are using to profile, and then apply it to your marketing. If you do, you'll quickly find that you'll have more business than you can handle!

Happy marketing!