First, your brand won’t appeal to everybody. Don’t worry this is a good thing; it shouldn’t appeal to everyone, because not everyone will want to buy your products or services. An 18-year-old boy isn’t going to buy a crotchet kit, and a 65 year old couple are highly unlikely to purchase a new wakeboard. With this in mind, ANY time, effort or money spent marketing to these groups is completely wasted.
To increase the effectiveness of your brand and all related advertising and marketing, you need to know who your most likely customers are. Lets be honest, you already know this… it isn’t rocket science. It is easy to slip into the “I’ll take money from anyone” mindset (and so you should, but you shouldn’t market to them), or consider it too hard to define your core customers; I’ve been there myself. But it is CRITICAL to the success of your brand.
Think about it. If I told you, that you could have all the profits from any nappies you could sell to one hundred people, would you ask the first hundred people you meet? or would you do better asking the next hundred people pushing a stroller?
The more knowledge you have of who your customers are, the easier it is to target them with your branding and marketing. You can draw better conclusions as to what they want to buy, and why. What their likes and dislikes are, and how they want themselves to be perceived. It also gives you an insight into what radio stations they listen to, and what newspapers and magazines they read.
Demographic information you need to know about your customers:
· Age (range)
· Employment – Are they management, professional, or owner
· Location – City, town, region
· Gender
· Education
· Occupation
· Marital status
· Ethnicity
· Income – total household income. Can they afford your products or services
· Family status – do they have children? What age and stage?
If you supply products or services to businesses, you can also collate demographic information for the businesses you deal with. Such as:
· Industry
· Size of business (sales, no. employees)
· Type of business (manufacturer, retailer, primary production)
· Location
· Geographic scope of the business (regional, national, international)
So how do you get this demographic information for your business?
The best way to gather demographic information is through using market research companies. However, these can be expensive.
It is possible to do your own research: it is relatively inexpensive to run your own phone survey, or observation of your customers. My favourite method is to ask your customers if they would be willing to complete a quick questionnaire during the purchase transaction. You could even offer an incentive such as a prize draw, small discount (or better a bonus).
