Author: Bud Gahhart, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
Who is your customer? When I ask business owners this question, I often get the response: “Everyone is my customer.” Wrong answer! Everyone is NOT your customer and never will be. Maybe you already figured that out, but have you taken the time to clearly identify who your customers are so that you can optimize your product and service offerings and target your advertising?
Each business is unique and attracts a specific set of customers. How wide a range of customers your business serves will depend on the nature of your product or service, but you can narrow it down by considering shared customer traits. In addition to the obvious characteristics of gender and age, consider your typical customer’s income, education, ethnicity, location, family status, and other markers. You can also differentiate your customers by psychographic traits—their personality, values, interests, attitudes, and lifestyle.
Knowing the traits of your customer enables you to develop a targeted marketing approach to ensure you are connecting with the right people. So how do you identify who your customer is? Start keeping track. Are your customers male or female? What age bracket do they fall into? You could ask them to complete an informal survey identifying their age group: 18-25, 26-33, 34-42, 43-55, 55+ for example. If you include other questions about income, education, family status, Zip code, etc., you can learn a great deal. Allow them to complete the survey and drop it anonymously into a collection box so they do not feel that they are revealing personal data that can be traced back to them.
Armed with this new information, you can turn to the Internet to look for data that will match what you know about your customers to census results for your surrounding area. Where should you start? One very useful website is Factfinder where you can enter a city, town, county, or Zip code to gain access to a wealth of demographic information—all free of charge. I love “free”! I can always afford it, and it can add up to lots of money for my business.
The Factfinder website will provide you with lots of detailed data. For example, if you own a toy store that targets preschoolers, you can find out the total population under age 5. Say your business appeals to persons over age 65, and you want to know how many live in your area; that data is available. Need to target persons who own their own home? No problem. The total number of homeowners is identified, and you can click on a link that will display an area map showing where those persons are likely to live. Are your customers likely to have a college education? This website will list the college-educated population total, and a map will show where they reside.
Once you have developed a customer profile, there are many tools available to assist you in identifying where potential customers are located. Knowing their traits and locations makes it easy to develop a media campaign to connect with potential customers. For instance, you can use direct mail or distribute flyers to identified neighborhoods. Your marketing plan should be revised to include methods to capitalize on your expanded knowledge about your customers.
It is critical for business owners to understand “who” their customers are, and just as important to understand who they are not. Collect customer traits and access the Census Bureau to learn more about what customer information is available. If you need specific information, you may need to access an association or pay a fee to obtain lists that have been sorted to meet your specific needs. Keep in mind, not everyone is your customer, and knowing more about your current customers will help you target other persons with similar interests. They can be your new customers, helping grow your business to the next level.
This article was written by Bud Gayhart, Director of the Center for Innovation & Business Development at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.