The city centre bookstore manager complains to her colleague on the phone about people wandering in on their lunch break to browse because they have nothing else to do.

“They’re not coming in for anything in particular.” she sighs.

She’s right, for two hours every day hundreds of office workers with nothing else to do pass by her door. Contrast her story to that of Powell’s bookstore—a Portland institution. Powell’s is a destination, a treat for locals and visitors alike. The management at Powell’s understands that people don’t visit bookstores just because they’re short of something to read.

There isn’t a single beloved brand that relies on stacking the shelves and opening the door as its killer marketing strategy. That’s not how marketing works in the twenty-first-century.

Every store you visit, app you use or podcast you listen to, has given you a reason to come. The owners and creators know why you’re there and what you want deep down.

Why are your customers here?

Image by Florent Lamoureux.