Many companies make the mistake that their products can sell themselves. No matter how exceptional or unique your products and services are, they won’t attract the expected number of sales if they are not marketed to the right people. Entrepreneurs and marketers are always talking about the ideal customer or the target market and finding both are very critical tasks. Your ideal customer will define your product development, marketing, sales and support phases immensely.
Companies cannot afford to have generic advertising campaigns. Once you know the ideal customer or customer base for your company, you can direct all your marketing, sales and advertising efforts towards attracting the ideal customers for more success. So how can you identify the ideal customer? Here are a few tips.
What can your product do?
You need to look at your product from the ideal customer’s point of view. You need to figure out the problems that your product solves and the needs of the customer that it satisfies. You also need to ask yourself how your product improves the lives of your customers. This will give you an ideal of the type of customer that your product caters to very well.
Describe your ideal customer
Companies usually have a type of customer in their minds while developing and designing products. Use this image and define the characteristics of your ideal customer. Decide upon the age group, gender, occupation and level of education of your ideal customer. You also need to pinpoint the income range, financial situation and probably aspirations of your ideal customer. Listing out possible interests and hobbies of your customers also helps.
Where they are
Some businesses that have been around for a while can identify their best customers and list out the common features to find their ideal customer base. Companies also often determine and list the geographical location of their ideal customer. Where the customer lives and works, where they buy their products, etc. are also essential questions to ask.
Uniqueness of your product
To target your marketing and advertising campaigns better and to give your products and edge over the others, you need to find the uniqueness of your product of service. You must ask yourself why your customer should choose your products over that of your competitors. Also, figure out the urgent needs of your customers that your product or service meets. This can help you identify the most important benefits of your product for the customer and can help you better identify your ideal customer base.
