Understand who your customers are
The more you understand about who your potential customers are, the easier it will be reach them, turning their interest into a sale. To understand who your potentials customers are, develop a list of customer attributes. These customer attributes should take into account:
- Demographics
- Business versus Consumer (End-User) Traits
- Environmental aspects
- Lifestyle or Life Cycle Traits
- Purchasing Habits
- Product Preferences
If your offering is new the market, you’ll need to speculate who is most likely going to use your product or service. Talk with prospects or request them to complete a customer survey to learn more about who they are and what their interests may be. Ask those who purchased your product what the compelling reason was for their purchase. With a list of attributes in hand, you’ll be able to develop a customer profile or persona that you can use to create your marketing strategy for extending your reach.
Types of customer attributes
Business
- Product or service offering
- Product life cycle
- Location or address
- Lease, rent or own property
- Operations are geographically dispersed
- Culture: flat vs. multi-level, regional headquarters versus colonization approach, decision making process
- Single or multiple regions served
- Number of products and/or product lines
- Number of target markets served
- Legal status: Corporation, sole proprietor, limited liability company or partnership, nonprofit, or government entity
- Industry
- Private or public organization
- Revenue: Amount, profitable or not
- Customers: Number, locations, type, size, etc.
- Purchasing habits
- Supplier, partner relationships, and their respective qualifications
- Organization needs – HR, Finance, Marketing, Legal, Operations, C-Level support, Supply Chain, Technology, etc.
- Budget – amount on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis; approval process
Consumer (or End User)
- Age
- Household or median income
- Location: Business/home address, services nearby, etc.
- Employer: Nonprofit vs. profit, size or number of employees, etc.
- Occupation and title
- Commute or telecommute
- Social/Athletic/Religious/Political organizations associated with or supported
- Education level – doctorate, graduate, college, high school degrees
Environment
Lifestyle or Life Cycle Traits
- Age factors/stages: Child, teen, young adult, mid-life, menopause, retirement; parent/ child-less; relationship stage – dating, marriage, widow or widower
- Family focus: Children – ages, sex, schools – public/private, size, demographics of student body, academic/extracurricular activities focused; older parents to take care of; penchant for gatherings
- Political beliefs/activism: Civic rights, environment, international politics, terrorism, war, poverty, energy
- Sports interest: Soccer, baseball, football, volleyball, etc.; youth or adult; professional or volunteer
- Religious beliefs/activism
- Personality traits: Open/closed to new ideas, positive/negative outlook, values privacy, compulsive, analytical, risk adverse, sexual orientation, etc.
- Life changes: Child birth/adoption, child leaving the ‘nest,’ death, terminal illness/diagnosis, home purchase/major remodel; behavior change – overcoming addiction, opening a new business, etc.
- Health condition and perceptions: Exercise, diet, medical needs, pharmaceuticals, sports, etc.
- Education level: High school graduate, college, degree(s), etc.
- Professional/work life experience: Number of years, industry, type of work
- Web usage: Research, online banking/payment processing, games, social networking, website preferences, surveys, work related activities, design, photography, preferred browser, email preference (html or text), etc.
- Mobile usage: Call, messaging, online research, games, etc.
- Financial security: Insurance needs – home, auto, life, etc.; savings, investments, perceptions regarding risks, etc.
- Purchasing habits: Online or offline, preference for where and when, etc.
- Product preferences: Key features and benefits
Discover more…
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- “Demographics.” SBDCNet. Accessed January 4, 2024. http://www.sbdcnet.org/industry-links/demographics-links.
- Devault, Gigi. “Consumer Profile: Defining the Ideal Customer.” The Balance Small Business. Last modified January 8, 2020. https://www.thebalancesmb.com/consumer-profile-defining-the-ideal-customer-2296932.
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- “Three Simple Steps to Creating An Ideal Customer Profile.” The Whole Brain Group (blog). Last modified April 19, 2016. https://thewholebraingroup.com/blog/steps-to-creating-an-ideal-customer-profile/.
- Vaughan, Pamela. “How to Create Detailed Buyer Personas for Your Business [Free Persona Template].” HubSpot (blog). Last modified May 28, 2015. http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33491/Everything-Marketers-Need-to-Research-Create-Detailed-Buyer-Personas-Template.aspx.
- “How Data Can Drive More Dynamic Personalization.” Sitecore. Accessed January 4, 2024. https://www.sitecore.com/blog/content/creating-customer-profiles-for-dynamic-personalization.
- Wojcik, Russell. “Customer Profiles, Personas, and Buyer’s Journeys: What to Know and How to Build Them.” DigitalCurrent (blog). Last modified July 31, 2019. https://www.digitalcurrent.com/blog/customer-profiles-and-buyer-personas-defined/.
