There are a lot of ways to discover who your perfect customer is, but as a new business owner, you might not have the time or resources to invest in extensive market research. Luckily, there are a few simple ways that you can get to know your perfect customer and start catering to their needs.
These methods won’t make you go far outside of your comfort zone and likely won’t have you looking somewhere you already aren’t present already. Additionally, please keep in mind this way of determining your perfect customer is not an in-depth study; it’s simply laying out resources you very likely have already at your fingertips that will be painless, but give you a better idea of who your customer truly is.
1. Look at your competition.
Don’t get stuck on comparing yourself with your competition, but take a look at who your competition is targeting. What kinds of customers are they attracting? If you can identify the kind of people that your competition is selling to, you can start to target similar people. Do you see ads from your competition on TV, in the paper, and/or on social media? You likely will be able to determine your competitor’s customers by what they say and how they say it in their advertising.
Look at who is following and engaging with your competition on social media. See what kind of content they are sharing. Take a look at what kind of people are interacting with it. Does your competition post often and what platforms are they using? The amount of interaction vs. how often they post might give you insight if you have the same customers, and where your customers are on social media as well. (That was a bonus tip, by the way … don’t ignore it! You can adjust your social media presence if needed, based on that tidbit of information.)
2. Ask your current customers.
If you already have some customers, reach out to them and ask them about their needs and wants. See what they like and don’t like about your product or service. You can do this through casual conversation at check out, through a survey on your website, in your newsletter, by using a poll, or simply asking on social media. Use this feedback to help you understand your customers better (and to get a little information about what they like or would better like about your services, products, and business as a whole. That was another bonus tip, by the way!)
Using the information that you have collected, the better you know your customer. This information will also help you to better serve them, maintain the relationship between them and your business, and grow your business, all at the same time.