Do You Know Your Client?

I am often asked about the places to advertise for businesses.  I’m sure my standard answer fails to inspire most business owners however, it is the best answer to give.

My standard answer is ‘  A bit of a wishy washy answer on the surface and one that definitely means that more research is required by the Business Owner.

Let me explain… If you’re target audience are working parents of 5 to 10 year olds, would advertising in the local play group or mothers group newsletter get you access to your target audience?  I wouldn’t think so… the audience for these newsletters would be non-working parents.

By defining your target audience, you are able to define where the best place to target your customer.

If your target audience are 19 to 35 year old males, who enjoy ’non-mainstream music’ and spend their spare time in Coffee Shops — you are probably going to get better results by having flyers, brochures and posters on display in the Coffee Shops.  Conducting an expensive radio campaign on one of the ‘main stream’ radio stations is NOT a good idea.

So… do you know who your ideal customer is? You may have several ideal customers… that’s o.k.  Describe each one!  Describe them in as much detail as you can and give them a name… Here’s an example

Joe is a 33 to 50 year old male.  He is happily married, has two children aged between 7 and 15 years old.  The children are schooled in the public system and receive average grades and reports.  Joe works in a white collar job – 38 hours a week and drives to and from work.  Joes wife, Wendy, works part time as a retail assistant.

Whilst at school, Joe was an avid sportsman and was a member of the Football and Cricket teams.

Joe enjoys watching TV shows like The Sopranos’ and West Wing.

Joe enjoys reading magazines like Sportsman Quarterly and will mainly read the sports section of the newspaper.

On the weekend, Joe helps Wendy take their children to the various sports training and competitions.  Joe also coaching his childrens football team during the week.

This example should give you a great idea of who Joe is, where he ‘hangs out’ and the type of things he likes to do.  Obviously, if you wanted to attract Joes attention, taking that really sweet deal in the Business section of the local Newspaper won’t do!

To make sure you get the most out of your marketing dollar and marketing efforts… define who your customer is – really get to know them.

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