Customer profile - How to target your dream client
This blog post will teach you how to create a customer profile and target your dream client for your small business. It includes a free downloadable PDF to make it super easy.
What is a customer profile?
A customer profile is like creating an avatar.
You want to imagine up a person who is your dream client and describe their attributes, personality, values, dreams, pain points and more.
It’s essentially a list of demographics and psychographics.
Why is a consumer profile important?
Not profiling who your business is targeting, is like taking a leap in the dark.
Having a customer profile makes it so much easier to do fundamental business tasks such as branding and marketing.
It will enable you to know who you are talking to, where to talk to them and how to talk them.
It’s essentially one of the first steps any business should take, as well as creating a business profile.
To any new branding clients I take on I give them this interactive customer profile PDF to fill out. This is phase one of the branding process as it will lay the strategy for how the brand design will develop to achieve the maximum impact for them and their business.
Get the free customer profile PDF
1. Gender
We know that gender is on a spectrum but having a ball park of who to aim for will make your life much easier.
2. Age
What age bracket do they sit in?Â
0-2, 3-13, 13-17, 18-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, 65+
2. Location
Which country do they live in? Even better if you can narrow it down to a county or even post code!
Not profiling who your business is targeting, is like taking a leap in the dark.
4. Profession
What do they do for a living? Are they employed, un-employed, self employed, retired? Have they had a career change? What is their highest qualification?
5. Political stance
Are the left wing, right wing or somewhere in between?
6. Income
How much do they earn personally earn? Or their household earn?
7. family
8. Personality
9. Life priorities
10. Hobbies
11. Watches on Tv
12. Listens to
13. Reads
Do they read fiction or non fiction? Do they prefer to listen to audiobooks, buy on kindle or have a physical book? What is their favourite author and genre?
14. Online presence
Where do they hang out online? Do they have social media, if so on which platforms? Do they use the internet all of the time or is it occasional use? What do they use the internet for?
15. Favourite brands
What are their favourite shops? Where do they buy their clothes and food?
16. Where do they find you/your business
Do they find you by walking down the high street? Online through social media? Email marketing? Cold calling?
17. How do they buy from you
In person? Online? Is it an impulse purchase or a considered purchase? Are they buying from themselves or someone else?
18. How do they receive from you
Does it arrive in the post? As a digital file? A workshop? A service?
19. How do you follow up
Do you give them a call? A thank you note? An email? A follow on social media? A discount code?
20. Their headaches/pains/fears
What are their bug bears? What stops them from achieving what they want to acheive?
21. How you/your business relieves those pains
Do you provide a product that resolves that issue? Do you teach them how to achieve what they want to achieve? Do you relieve stress? Give them back their time?
22. Their hopes/dreams/gains
What do they want to achieve? Accomplish? Do?
23. How you/your business creates those gains
Do you provide them with a service that allows them to achieve a personal or business goal? Allow them to get a create return on in investment? Do you give them confidence? Teach them a new skill?
Summary
I know it can feel uncomfortable to put a ‘person’ into neatly defined boxes because of course that is not how the real world works.
HOWEVER, doing this task will really help you to clarify at least the general ball park of who you are aiming your business at and remember this is a dream client.
If you do have different products or services that cater to different types of people by then all means create multiple customer profiles.
You can also extend this summarised customer profile into a full blown essay or even create a mood board of them or a CV, get creative.
It’s also okay for your customer profile to change and evolve, you’re not always going to hit the nail on the head first time.
If you haven’t already I would also highly recommend filling out a business profile, probably best to do so before doing this customer profile.
If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Happy customer profiling!
