Identifying Your Customer
What Does Your Customer Look Like?
The very first thing we do as Consultants here at Faim Marketing is help our clients identify their target audience. After all, what good is a marketing strategy if we don’t know who we’re marketing to? We always encourage our clients to get into depth when identifying their target audience. What sex are they? Where do they live? Age? Hangouts? Income? You get the point. Some folks have a real good idea who their target audience is, while others have no idea. Then of course there is some who think they know their audience but are a bit confused. For example; not too long ago we were working with a Residential HVAC Company who were convinced their target customer was “the man of the house”, they couldn’t of been more wrong. When we took a closer look at their customer data, it was in fact the “Lady of the House” who was making the calls. For years this company was spending their advertising dollars targeting the wrong person.
Not knowing who your customers are could be costly. For instance, if your main clientele is married couples over the age of 60 and you are spending time and money on Social Media Marketing, it’s likely your marketing budget is being wasted. One way to understand your target audience is to look at your sales reports. Breakdown the demographics and use that information to prepare for your next marketing campaign. If you are new in business, use surveys. Customer identification may not seem important but it’s the difference between Gatorade and all other Sugary Sports Drinks. Why? Because Gatorade has told us that every time we are active or involved in a sport we need a Gatorade to quench our thirst. The other less expensive “sports drink” just made themselves available but never associated their product with a buyer. Same goes with Redbull, every time I think of extreme sports I remember Redbull “gives you wings” because they’ve built their brand around extreme sport athletes.
So before you start your next campaign I hope you envision your customer. Facebook and other advertising sites will have options to specify your target audience, make sure you are using that option to your advantage. I also recommend using images of what you think your target audience looks like in your advertising (brochures, commercials, postcards, etc).