Want to know the key to getting your marketing messaging absolutely spot on? Start by getting to know your target customer inside out.🔍
To get you going, I’ve put together 8 crucial questions to ask about your target customer. To help paint a better picture of who is buying your product or service, you can use reporting analytics from your CMS or Google, or conduct your own market research and customer surveys.
What is a target customer?
As always, let's define our terms first. Put very simply, your target customer (also known as target audience) refers to the group of people you direct your marketing efforts and business resources towards. To put it even more simply; they are the people who are most likely to buy your services or products.
Why do I need to know about my target customer?
Your target customer has the power to make your business soar. Knowing your audience helps you communicate more effectively and hugely increases the likelihood of generating positive results. Building stronger relationships with your customers will, in time, create a more loyal customer base, which of course means more sales (and happy customers!)
These satisfied customers often go on to recommend your brand to their peers, who tend to have similar needs or interests to them. Word of mouth referrals are quite literally priceless for your business; you don't have to pay any advertising costs to make them aware of your business or move them down the sales funnel. Getting to know your target customer inside out really is the cornerstone of a successful business. So, exactly how do you do it?
8 questions to ask about your target customer to get to know them better
1. Who are they?
First things first: establish their demographics. This includes key information such as age, gender, location and spending power. This will help you build a picture of them in your mind, and will be the starting point of creating your customer persona.
2. What are their interests and hobbies?
What do they do in their free time, what are their passions, what really makes them tick? This will help build context and flesh them out as a real, three dimensional human rather than a data point in your analytics report.
3. What are their pain points and challenges?
What are they struggling with and how does this make them feel? How can your product or service help them to overcome those struggles? Putting yourself in their shoes will allow you to create copy and content that is more targeted to their specific situation.
4. What do they want?
What are their main motivators in life? If you can nail this, you will be able to craft copy that truly connects with them. Our motivators are the main driving force behind every decision that we make.
5. What are they looking for in a product or service like yours?
What set of circumstances has led them to your website, and what outcome are they picturing when they purchase your product or service? You can answer these questions with informative copy that addresses the scenario that they are facing without it.
6. What is their research style?
Do they consult other people in their decision making process, and if so, who? Are they price sensitive? Which competitors would they look at during the research phase? By getting to know their research style, you can have a better idea of how they'll land on your site and where they might get distracted from moving down the sales funnel.
7. What is their communication style?
What kind of language do they use - are there any idioms, jargon or professional terminology that are specific to their profile? Which communication channels do they tend to use the most, and which devices are they most likely to use whilst browsing? The device they use to browse can affect copy length and placement.
8. What are the reasons they might not buy your product/ service?
We've all experienced those moments before purchase when the doubt creeps in, and we start to wonder if there is a quicker/cheaper/better option available. How can you address these objections in your copy? What social proof can you add that will help win their trust?
What happens next?
Once you’ve got a clearer idea of exactly who you’re talking to, you might want to put together a customer persona; essentially a character (or characters) who you keep front of mind whenever you’re creating marketing content. Because let’s face it, it’s much easier to write for Bertha, aged 74 who only drinks Yorkshire tea, is a long-time subscriber to Gardeners’ World and loves nothing more than spoiling her six unruly grandchildren, than it is writing into the abyss.
Struggling to connect with your customers?
Get in touch to find out how I can create bespoke, customer-focused copy for your brand, that speaks to your customer in their own language and makes them feel seen, heard and understood.
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