How to create your ideal customer profile
Welcome to The Social Content Factory’s branding series. In this series we teach you everything you need to know to create an amazing brand that WOWs your customers, including creating a mood board and choosing your brand typography, colour palette and logo.
First up, creating your ideal customer profile.
Why is it important to create your ideal customer profile?
We've all heard the saying that what you put out is what you get back and when it comes to marketing, this couldn't be more true. In fact, if there is one marketing principle that you apply to your business, this should probably be it. If you are putting out a BLAH brand, with BLAH images and BLAH content, do you think you are going to attract positive engagement from high quality customers? On the other hand, what do you think would happen if you invested in good branding, professional photos and put the time and effort into creating quality content?
You get the picture.
So, if what you put out is what you get back then it makes sense that the first step in creating your brand should be to determine the types of customers you are trying to attract. This is where an ideal customer profile comes into play.
What is an idea customer profile?
To put it simply your ideal customer profile should define which types of customers, or companies, are a perfect fit for your brand. This will look different depending on whether you sell B2B (business-to-business) or B2C (business-to-consumer) but it will essentially include details of your ideal customers' demographics, interests, behaviours, goals, challenges, etc. By defining these specific details you will have a better idea of the type of content your ideal customers are interested in and how you can best reach them.
Creating your ideal customer profile doesn't mean you're shunning customers that don't fit this profile, it's simply a guide to refer to when producing marketing content to ensure a consistent brand voice and personality across all your marketing material.
How to create your ideal customer profile
When creating your ideal customer profile you want to focus on attracting your absolute ideal customers, these may be different to your current customers. Ask yourself, if any one customer could walk through your door or call you up right now wanting your product or service, who would they be?
Depending on your business you may have more than one ideal customer profile. For example, a real estate agent would have a customer profile for buyers and a customer profile for sellers. If this is the case for your business, you can create a separate ideal customer profile for each segment of your business, but it's best to focus on one profile at a time.
When we're working on this task we find it easier to think of one particular person (or brand if selling B2B). It might be a current customer you have or someone you would dream of working with/selling to, perhaps even a celebrity, influencer or high-end brand.
Then ask yourself the following questions with that person or brand in mind:
BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS:
Start with a broad description...
What size of company are they?
What products/services do they sell?
Where are they located?
How long have they been in business?
Get more specific...
What type of brand image do they portray?
What field would they consider themselves 'experts' in?
What type of content do they post?
What other brands and/or influencers do they collaborate with?
Which social media platforms do they use?
What are their business goals?
What challenges do they face?
Think of three adjectives that best describe their brand
(E.g., fun, friendly, adventurous)
BUSINESS-TO-CONSUMER:
Start with a broad description...
How old are they?
What gender are they?
Where do they live?
What is their occupation?
Get more specific...
What are their interests?
How do they spend their free time?
What other brands and products do they consume?
What type of content are they interested in?
Which social media platforms do they use?
What are their personal goals?
What challenges do they face?
Think of three adjectives that best describe them
(E.g., trendy, chic, modern)
Now that you have a clear understanding of the types of customers you are trying to attract, you can focus on the type of brand image you want to create that will appeal to these customers. This is where a mood board comes into play. In our next blog post we discuss what a mood board is and teach you how to create one for your own brand.