Step 1: Market Research
Creating an Ideal Client Profile
The information you’re looking for includes:
- Demographic information about your customers such as age, gender, income level, family situation, location, etc.
- Psychographic data such as their worries, fears, self-image, attitudes, problems, etc.
- Shopping habits: What other brands do they buy from? Do they save or shop impulsively? Are they big spenders or cautious?
- What products and services they’d like to see in the world, or how the companies they currently buy from don’t meet their needs.
Where to Get Started with Your Research
If you don’t currently have customers, or if you want more data than they offer, you can conduct market research on potential customers. Whether or not you have customers, this is a good idea since you want to increase your customer base.
There are two ways to conduct market research: directly and indirectly. First, let’s discuss indirect methods since they’re generally easier to carry out and put less strain on resources.
Indirect Market Research
Here are a few ways to gather this information:
Online Forums. Join online forums where your customers and potential customers spend time asking questions and having discussions.
Blogs. Blogs are good for gathering data because they’re updated more often than regular websites. Try to find blogs about your industry or by potential customers and read what they have to say.
Social Media. Connect with your target market on social media and monitor their conversations. This is a great tool because you can also communicate directly with potential customers through these channels.
Keywords Tools. Use a keyword tool to see how many people are searching for products such as yours. Choose keywords that are relevant to your products. In other words, if you were going to search for this product, what would you type into the search bar? The volume of searches gives you an idea of how popular products such as yours are.
The Competition. Another great source of data is your competitors. Find competitors who offer something similar to what you offer. If possible, look at sales data to see how your target market shops. Stay abreast with your competitors’ websites, blogs, newsletters, and so on.
Business Trends. Read industry journals and websites to find out the latest trends related to your business.
Direct Market Research
Interviews. Conduct interviews with people during which you ask them directly for the specific information you need to create your profile.
Questionnaires. Questionnaires can be done online or offline. Create short questionnaires that ask very specific questions to help you gather the information you need.
Focus Groups. The most labor-intensive, but often most lucrative, market research method is the traditional focus group. This is where you gather a group of people to discuss their opinions, perspectives, and beliefs on a certain product or an aspect of a product.
Pulling It All Together
It’s good to do a bit of both. The more samples you gather data from, the clearer and more accurate a picture you’ll have of your target market.
Once you create your profile, you’ll shape your brand so that it will appeal to your ideal customers and communicate why they need you.
Getting Started - Action Steps for Your Next Coffee Break
While the market research methods we just covered are fresh in your mind, take some time to put them to work for you. Start bringing what your brand needs to communicate by identifying your target market with the steps below.
- Using some of the market research methods listed, think about the specifics of the demographic you are trying to reach.
- Use the worksheet provided to define your target market.
Ready for a deeper dive? Explore the resource below!
When you are ready to really dig into this stuff, remember that there’s a real mix of marketing advice out there. Some of it’s awesome, some of it’s half-baked, lots of it is outdated, and a whole lot of it is designed to help sell products, not professionals services.
We’ve filtered through the best of what is available to provide you with actionable advice in our Deep Dive recommendations that are from the most trusted resources and are designed specifically to promote professional practices like yours.
Deeper Dive Recommendation: Digital Marketer's How to Guide to Creating a Client Avatar
If you are ready to really to dig into this stuff, we recommend spending an hour or two putting Digital Marketer’s client avatar resources to work for you.
Using their step-by-step guide and worksheet will allow you to bring the target market you’ve identified into focus in the form of an actual person. Imagining how your brand will land with this persona/avatar could be really helpful as you move forward.
Todd McCall
I help practices who are marketing professional services get the attention they deserve by developing an online presence that converts visitors into clients.
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