This Week's Question: How do I figure out who the "right" customer is for my business?
Transcription:
How do I figure out who the right customer is for my business? The unfortunate answer for most small businesses is: "anyone who will buy from you." And you and I both know we've all had that nightmare customer who was a pain in the you-know-what to work with, wasn't profitable, and just wasn't a good fit for your business.
If you want to learn more about how to get laser-focused on attracting the right customer for your business, keep watching!
Hi I'm Tom Malesic, founder and President, of EZMarketing, a website designer and marketing agency in Lancaster, PA, and you're watching Ask EZ. This is where small business owners go to get real answers to their marketing questions.
Finding the right customer involves two main pieces. First, it's your target market, and then second, it's who's your ideal customer.
target market
First the target market, think of this as the broad group of customers who can buy from you. A lot of times people think of this like demographics. So, where do they live, what size is their business, what industry are they in, maybe it's by income level.
ideal customer
Then there's your ideal customer, this is getting specifically down into the types of people who would be a good fit for your business. Sometimes this is referred to as psycho-graphic information. So it might be, what are they interested in, what do they believe in, what groups are they part of.
Think of this like dating. Let's say you prefer tall blondes who are about your age and live in your town. That would be your demographic information. But that doesn't necessarily mean that they're going to be a good fit for you. If you really want to have kids, and love to travel, and want someone with a sense of humor and they don't have those qualities, still not going to be a good fit for your dating life.
figure out your target market
How do I figure out my target market? Well if you can figure out, what's the problem that your product or service solves, and who really needs that problem solved. Then you're well on your way to figuring out your target market.
A good target market should also include people that have the ability to pay for your product or service, the market needs to be large enough, and it needs to be fairly simple to identify. Your goal is to narrow this down, to a specific group of people who all share the same problem that you can solve for them.
figure out your ideal customer
Now that you know your target market, let's drill down into who that ideal customer is. Ask yourself these three questions.
- Who are the customers that you love working with, and why?
- Who are the customers that you hate working with, and why?
- And probably most important, who are the customers that love to work with you?
Where all these people intersect, they're likely to be a really good fit for your business.
your homework
Okay here's your homework: I want you to get out a sheet of paper, on the top of it write down the biggest problem that your business solves for customers.
Then make a list of every single target market that you can possibly think of that shares that problem that you can help them. Don't filter out anything, just brainstorm as fast as you can. After you have the list, just pick one. Then figure out what does that person really care about and what do they value.
This exercise really just scratches the surface to help you find your target market and ideal customer. If you'd like to really dig in, I invite you to attend our upcoming workshop, the information is right below this video and I look forward to seeing you there. If you need more help, talk to our marketing agency. We offer an array of internet marketing services including SEO, email marketing, and local PPC advertising, not to mention website design and development.
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