So you have had the idea, researched the market and developed the perfect product. Now all you have to do is stick it online, put it in the shop window and chuck some budget into advertising or social media in order to start selling, right?
From my experience this is where most businesses further down the line begin to struggle and either see sales stagnate or drop off. It’s after you know who your customers are and what they want, that will give you the power to truly start growing your business.
If you’re busy and can read no further then just take note that Customer Profiling is not just about gathering data, but about building long-term, loyal relationships with people.
If you already have lots of data then you need to consider segmentation but I will explain that one in my next blog.
Your customers are precious and they will teach you more about what your product or service should be offering. This group will deliver insights that can be adapted and used to create an effective lead generation strategy. In short more sales leads!
So what is the information you need?
Apart from contact details, if you can segment the knowledge you have about your customer profiles then you can begin planning a marketing strategy that will generate leads and in time more customers.
There are four key categories of information to consider when profiling. When you have a greater understanding of how they think and what help they need then you can begin to communicate directly to retain this customer base but equally open discussions with the wider audience.
1.Geographic:
Where are they in the world? The location of your customers can influence big business decisions. Whether you opt for a shop front in the high street or offer a bespoke, one to one service to focusing with online retail, or all three! In addition think about the communication strategy and how you deliver your message. A one day seminar in Brisbane is no good to anyone if the majority of your customers live in Europe, and in this case consider the world of webinars from a lead perspective. Or what about if your product is fresh and can’t be delivered within 24 hours but your fan base on Instagram in another country. Do you try to go global or consider marketing the recipes to grow the brand and test the market. The location of your customers will help you to create tailored campaigns that are relevant to your audience. Don’t be afraid to go viral locally if it makes more sales!
2.Demographic:
What age are they and what do they do for a living ? Knowing what stage in life your audience is at can be relevant for many reasons and can help deduce if your product will be a one-off purchase or have a longer term sales offering.
Consider a Luxury good, like champagne, a product like this may have mass appeal, but the likelihood for sales will be smaller. Aspirational to a younger market but with higher price margins less frequently purchased. While an older audience with more disposable income are likely to purchase more regularly.
Demographics are essential to creativity and help keep a brand focused and current. You need to keep up with your customer and what they want.
NG10 TIP: When it comes to advertising to a specific age group, don’t think literally think about what age appeals to that group, ” how old do you think you are”. One tip I learnt while marketing retirement properties was to appeal to the right age group you need to consider knocking at least 10 years off. In order to sell to the dependent 70+ customer we would show imagery of much younger persona, in this case younger models who were 55+ were used in creative.
3.Psychographic
Harder to uncover but lifestyle and social class can often be found using surveys or generated based on other third-party profiling. for example you can tell a lot about a person by their postcode and lot of brands today use national regional data to discover more about their market. How is this relevant? Well if you know more about what they like and want interests they have you may find the common ground for a relationship. For example if your product offers a health benefit as well as tasting great, your poster at the local leisure centre should lead with the first message, but if the customer commutes every morning on the underground then think about the how tasty the image needs to look to kick off the skipped breakfast, feeling hungry question! Situational content will appeal to the consumer when it comes to using outbound or traditional marketing mechanics.
4.Behavioural
Lastly this is essential so that you can understand how loyal a customer may be and whether a strategic brand campaign will have more impact than jumping straight to discounting the price. Studies have shown certain age groups to be more trusting and brand loyal when it comes to the finance or banking industry but more price conscious when it comes to eggs. A good pricing and brand strategy is essential at this point when it comes to talking to your customers. You don’t want to discount your price thinking you’ll build brand loyalty, in fact it does more harm and can put your product on the discounted aisle forever.
If this is something you would like to know more about or help with then get in touch with me today and let me help you to identify your true customer.
Click here to get in touch Hazel@ng10marketing.co.uk
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