Profile a Great Customer – Gain More Customers Just Like Them
One of the biggest challenges you will face as a business owner is attracting new customers. Expanding your customer base can be expensive and time-consuming, but it is necessary in order to continue to grow your business. As a business owner, what can you do in order to attract more customers without breaking the bank?
The first thing you will need to do is identify your best or ideal customer. It is important to think about what constitutes your ideal customer. These characteristics will vary, depending on the nature of your business and your specific industry. It is a good idea to take a few minutes to make a short list of characteristics and behaviors that will help you identify your ideal customer. This is called profiling a customer.
Once you have profiled your customer, you can use this profile to your advantage. For example, one local mobile home dealer was surprised to learn that his ideal clients are retired couples, not families. In his research, he found that his best clients are retirees who are looking for a smaller home on the lake. Once the owner discovered this information, he could begin to attract more retirees.
He started asking clients about the local newspapers and magazines they read. He found that they often read a different newspaper than the paper he regularly advertised in. This means that his ads were not reaching his target audience. He clearly had to change the way he advertised. This allowed the business owner to change the way he advertised in order to attract more of his ideal clients, getting more results for his advertising dollar.
When creating his advertising, the business owner also took his ideal customer into account. He created print ads and commercials that showed he had experience helping retirees find their dream vacation home. One of his best ideas included using a story approach to advertising. In his ads, he related a specific example of he how helped a couple purchase their vacation home. This helped clients visualize how his mobile home business could help them realize their dreams.
This business owner also involved his clients in his advertising. He used pictures of real clients in their real homes purchased from his business. These pictures were not only used in print ads and television commercials, but they were also posted in very visible locations in the office. This serves as a constant, yet subtle reminder to the clients that his business has experience helping people just like them.
His most successful project included using customer profiling to his advantage. He learned the main route his customers took into the area and rented a billboard. He then used a picture of a real client moving into a lakefront property. The only other information on the billboard was his phone number. This simple billboard increased sales by 20%.
Profile your ideal customer and sales will increase significantly. All you need to do is a little research, and your customer base will expand rapidly.
Copyright, All Rights Reserved, Nicole M. Shields