Imagine you could hand pick 100 people that would become new customers. Chances are that you would want them to be similar to your very best current customers. Am I right?
Creating a profile of your ideal customer is useful for your business strategy, marketing approaches and much more. If you were trying to attract families into your business, your advert would be designed quite differently than if you were trying to attract retired widows.
Ideal customer questions
– Where do they live?
– What radio stations do they listen to?
– Which make of car do they drive? How often do they drive it?
– How many children do they have and where do they go to schools?
– Will they pay for the purchase with a Credit/Debit card or cash?
– What time of day are they likely to shop from you?
– What are their frequently asked questions? What does this tell you about their interests/priorities?
– Did they do higher education? What level of education do they have?
– Have you considered their cultural tastes? What type of artwork do they have in their homes?
– Which is their favourite restaurants to eat in?
– What films do they enjoy?
– Where do they go on holiday and how often?
– Who makes the key buying decisions?
Can you answer all these questions? Write them down to get a better picture of the ideal customer and make sure this is in the forefront of you mind when making business decisions.
What to do with this information?
Knowledge is always power and this kind of profiling gives a sharer focus for all your business activities. Some businesses go so far as to name and have an image of their ideal customer so they can literally focus on what ‘Amanda’ would want from the business and how to attract her attention.
Your ideal customer is the person you focus your resources on for a certain timeframe but it may change or evolve with your business. You may develop a different focus at varying times of the year perhaps? As ever, get the picture but make sure you let it evolve in line with your business needs.
