Who are You Marketing To?
When asked “Who is your target market” I almost always hear “everyone”. In many cases it is true that everyone could use your product or service, the reality is that most people won’t.
If you market to everyone, your spending a lot of money and effort talking to people that will never purchase your product or service.
The Ideal Client
So the question becomes, who is willing and ready to spend money on your product or service now? These are your ideal client. By focusing your marketing efforts on your ideal client, you will not only increase the number of leads you receive, but also convert a greater percentage of those leads into sales.
So, how do you find your ideal client? The process of defining your ideal client must take into account a broad range of data and demographics.
5 essential steps to defining your ideal client.
1 How does your ideal client use your product or service?
We all think we know how our product or service is used, but do we realy? It is essential to understand how our customers actually use and benefit from our products and services. It’s often not what we think.
By talking with your customers and understanding your product from their point of view, you will be in a much better position to tailor things to better suit them.
2 The Ideal Client Profile
Basic demographic information like:
- Age, Sex
- Income
- Life Style
- Location
will help you to search for and further define your ideal client.
You can use this information to find out:
- Where do they hang out?
- What kinds of activities do they participate in?
- What do they listen to and watch?
- What is there buying processes?
3 Solving the problem
No matter what we are selling, product or service, people will purchase it not because of what it is, but for the problem it solves.
A man goes into a hardware store and buys a drill and a set of drill bits. This is not because he wants a drill and bits. What he is realy wants is holes.
Understanding how your customers perceive the benefits and solutions your product or service creates will help you to market more effectively.
4 Customer Contact
How do your customers want to be served?
- How and how often do they want to receive information – phone, e-mail, text, fliers?
- What is their purchasing process – buy immediately, research first, referral based, trial base?
- What kind of follow on contact, services, do they expect – news letter, customer support line, product/sales fliers?
Providing customers with content they want builds brand awareness and customer loyalty, and increases repeat business.
5 The Survey
It may seem like a lot of work goes in to defining your ideal client. Surveys take time and money, and don’t always produce usable data. There are businesses that will sit down with you, understand you and your business, and do the research for you.
A cost effective alternative is to build up the profile as you go by talking to your customers.
- Have a set of 3 – 5 questions that you ask all of them.
- Record the results.
- Analyze the results.
- Refine the questions.
- Ask the questions again.
Over time you will have built up a considerable amount of data. Talking with your customers on a regular basis creates a stronger brand loyalty and helps you stay on top of changing customer expectations.
Read more about Defining Your Ideal Client:
Determining Your Ideal Customer?
How to Define Your Ideal Customer?
© Surrey Networking Partners 2020-02-05