This probably sounds like a no-brainer, but do you know who your customer is? Do you know who your advertising efforts are reaching? Not knowing this is vital information could be costing you customers and profits. Many companies surprisingly don’t bother to gather this information before sending out their advertisements. Sending out materials to random email addresses or home addresses without a focus on the type of clientele is ineffective. This “Spray and Pray” method is wasting your hard earned dollars. So how do you figure out who your customer is? Ask yourself the following questions. You may even want to keep a record of the information if the statistics are subject to change in the future.
•Who buys your product or service? Is it an individual or a business?
• What is the geographic location of who buys from me?
If you sell primarily to individuals, what is your customer’s:
• Income level?
• Gender?
• Age?
• Race?
• Education level?
• Occupation? If I sell primarily to businesses:
• Is the business retail or wholesale?
• Are they located locally, nationally or worldwide?
• What sources (if any) are they currently buying from?
• Will they be re-selling my product? If you have no idea about the answers to the above questions there are some ways to find out this information.
1. Who are your best customers? What do they have in common? Think about what defines them.
2. Ask your customers questions in casual conversation, and listen and observe. “So did I hear that you just bought a boat?”
3. Study your competitors and do some research online. You will be able to find some statistics based on other company’s sales figures.
4. If you can’t exactly pinpoint who your customer is, sometimes it is easier to narrow it down by who isn’t.
5. Poll your existing base, and ask them more questions, to better identify what they have in common, and what their unfulfilled needs are. If you have an online checkout that requires a customer to create an account ask them to complete a survey or send out survey postcards in the mail with a discount or coupon if they send it back.
6. If your product or service isn’t so specialized that it is easy to figure out who your customers are then take guesses and see which type of customers are more profitable.
Don’t throw your money away by advertising blindly. Once you have taken the time to answer and analyze the above questions you can purchase email lists and addresses to send out your targeted advertising materials. Keep track of your sales before and after you take these steps and you may just be amazed by the difference! Also don’t forget to re-evaluate your customers every year to keep up to date with changing trends in the marketplace.
