You may know the purchasing habits of your clients, but do you really “know” them?
You may know the purchasing habits of your clients, but do you really “know” them?
Every successful marketing organization knows their customer and buyer persona inside out. This way they can devote time and resources planning and executing marketing activities that resonate with their audiences.
“Using profile criteria from your most profitable customers, as identified by your CLV calculation,” says Alex Fishleder, marketing coordinator with Maximizer Software, “along with your research data, you should be in a position to create an in-depth description of what ideal, profitable customers look like.”
This is more than a brief statement based on their purchasing habits, says Fishleder, as it should also contain demographic and psychographic information, including:
Customer Information
This should include your most profitable products and solutions and the ‘need’ your offer addresses, so you can target prospects with the same profile.
Demographic Information
B2B organizations should include vertical sector, number of employees, turnover and more importantly geographic location, which will also be influenced by your customer and company location and available resources. B2C companies should include age, gender, location, ethnic background, marital status, income, and more.
Psychographic Information
This is more conceptual and may support the identification of marketing channels and tactics for B2B profiling; for example, how did existing customers find your company, what actions did they take during the sales process, what were their pain points, etc. In contrast, B2Cs should look at the characteristics of customers, lifestyle indicators, interests, hobbies, values and even religious or political preferences.
“In summary, you are looking for demographic and psychographic patterns within your existing customer data, to help you identify your ‘typical’ customer, and profile them in as many relevant ways as possible,” he says. “The goal is to build a picture of an ideal prospect and an understanding of how and why they would do business with your company.”
Once you have identified your target audience, it is also important to consider their role within the decision-making process, says Fishleder, as there are often three personas to pay attention to, including:
The decision-maker: the individual who provides final sign off on the purchase
The influencer: the individual who influences the decision-maker
The evangelist: this is often an existing customer who acts as proof that your service or product can address a need or solve a problem; affecting the decision-maker.
“Splitting your audience into these key personas allows you to target your marketing message down to the individual level, and their role within the sales cycle,” says Fishleder. “This increases the likelihood of success and profitability.”
