53 questions to help you identify your ideal customer …

Have you seen the movie “The Terminator” where the robot character scans faces in a crowd to identify his potential target?

That is what I like to think every business owner should do … at least if he or she want to successfully grow a business.

Taking a page from “Marketing 101,” the business owner who successfully can identify his or her target or core market is miles ahead of the owner who relies on a “shot gun” approach.

I may be more oriented to this way of thinking based on my background; however, the further I’ve gone up through the ranks of marketing, finance and operations, the more I see the value of this “marketing-oriented” approach to running a business.

So how does this process of target identification work?

Back when I worked in advertising, the pitch team would spend hours getting into the head of consumers. One campaign I remember pretty well was for athletic shoes targeted towards the “Tween” market.

Three weeks prior to the pitch, I remember spending time at a video arcade, skateboard park, reading multiple titles and issues of magazines aimed at this audience, conducting focus group discussions, doing online surveys, researching the internet and reading huge university studies on our target.

Usually after that … the ad agency within the “pitch team” would deliver all of that information to the entire team, who would come up with a “character” … or a visual representation of our ideal “customer.”

I daresay most ad agency people are very visually-oriented, so having an actual person to identify with is an important step in the identification and the campaign process.

To accomplish this, the team would put together a series of photos (usually just a model from a magazine), together with words glued onto “a mood board” of this person, as well as their likes and dislikes, including what they read, what they wear, their interests and hobbies, their fears and so on.

The next step was to give this newly formed and identified character a personality … and usually that personality or image would best be represented by a famous person or persona.

Sometimes the pitch team would even come up with a song that resonated with the attitude of the subject … and play it over and over during creative brainstorming.

Then and only then does work on the campaign begin …

And you thought all of the work … (if you could even call it that!) … at the typical agency was glamorous and fun!

So … what kinds of questions come up during this process to help narrow our target and make sure our message is effective with our target and our niche?

Here’s a way for you to tap into the types of questions top marketers ask about their target audience.

Not only is this an interesting exercise for all of us to do on a periodic basis, it just might help you unlock some key attributes that exist in your target already … keys that you can in turn target with a product or service you have in your business right now.

Now, get ready to get in the “mind space” of your target audience for a while.

Below are some questions asked of a typical brainstorming session in an ad agency that reveal some very interesting answers about your own target market …

1. Is the target male or female typically?
2. How old are they?
3. Are they married? If yes, how long have they been married for? Is this their first marriage?
4. Do they have any kids? What ages are they?
5. Do they own or rent their home?
6. How many rooms in their home?
7. Is this far away from where they grew up?
8. How many cars do they have?
9. What are the make and models of these cars?
10. What level of education did they achieve?
11. What was their main motivation purchasing a particular product or service?
12. How far do they live from your business?
13. How do they get to your business?
14. If they get to your business by car, what do they listen to when they drive if anything?
15. What magazines do they like to read?
16. What are their past times and hobbies?
17. Do they play sports? If so which ones? Who is the leading sports hero for these sports?
18. Do they gamble?
19. How many hours a week do they work?
20. How many times do they vacation each year?
21. Where do they go to?
22. What sort of technology do they own at work?
23. What sort of technology do they own at home?
24. What sort of car, home, technology do they aspire to own?
25. How do they dress for work each day?
26. Do they have the internet at home and work?
27. Are they an early or late adopter of technology?
28. What sort of music do they listen to?
29. Do they drink alcohol? What would they order as a drink?
30. What newspaper do they read if anything?
31. What type of movies do they like?
32. How many books have they read in the past 12 months? Are they fiction or non-fiction?
33. Do they wear glasses?
34. Are they bi-lingual?
35. Do they have a political affiliation?
36. Where to they work? Or, do they own their own business? If so, is it home based, office based or store based?
37. If it is store based or office based, is it located in the downtown business district, a retail mall or shopping center, business park or an industrial park?
38. What do they worry about?
39. What do they fear?
40. What makes them happy?
41. What makes them sad?
42. What would embarrass them?
43. What do they wish they had less of?
44. What do they wish they had more of?
45. Do they own a pet/s? What sort of pet? How many?
46. How often do they fly? Is it domestic travel or international travel? What is the purpose of that travel (business or recreation)?
47. How fit and healthy are they?
48. What celebrity, sports hero would they like to be?
49. How much do they take home each month?
50. Are they spenders? Or are they thrifty with their resources?
51. Their best friend would describe them (in 5 words as …)
52. Their team would describe them (in 5 words as) …
53. If you asked them how they felt most days, they would say that they were …

The benefits of this type of exercise are numerous … and we’ll talk more about those benefits in upcoming posts.

However, the main benefit is to give you a better idea who is it you are trying to sell to … and if what you are currently selling is what your target (read “ideal”) customer really wants to buy.

Plus, it can help you start to segment your customers into “A’s, B’s, C’s and D’s,” … a powerful exercise that can turn your company around very quickly for the better.

Wouldn’t it be great to only sell to “A” and “B” type customers?

Those who are loyal and looking for a business that appreciates them and gives them great value with every transaction?

Those who tell their friends how great of a company you have?

Those who don’t beat you up on price all the time, and who don’t mind paying a premium to do business with you?

It is great … but you can only get to those top customers by doing your own homework and identifying who they are, and what they want, need and desire.

Much more on this in upcoming posts …

Jodie Shaw

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Tags: 53 questions, Action coaching, ActionCOACH, ad agency, ideal customer, Jodie Shaw, target customer