Granted we want everyone to buy our products, but is it really possible to catch new customers with a wide marketing net? Doubtful considering the barrage of advertising that an individual sees every day. The best way to get someone’s attention is to speak directly to him or her. This doesn’t mean direct mail or cold calling the phonebook, that would cost your advertising budget more time, effort, and tears than it is worth. What you should do is know your customers and talk to them where they already are.

Who do you think is your potential customer? Who is the product intended for? Who is actually purchasing the product? When you create a marketing campaign it is integral that you know your audience so that you can speak to them directly and address their needs selling points.  Look at the following areas to discover the identities of your shopper.

• Demographics – Age? Is there a generation gap, why? Can you expand your product to new age groups, how? Gender, who does the buying? Is there an ethnic identity that is predominant for your product, why?
• Geography – Where are your customers and potential customers? How does their location affect the way they buy your products? Can you make the buying experience easier for customers to reach physically?
• Psychographics – What are their hobbies and interests? Where do they socialize and look for information? Can you advertise there? Does your firm/product offer you the ability to interact with customers based on these interests?
• Attitudes – How do they feel about your (or comparable) products? What are they looking for in products? Do they buy your product because it is the only option or because of a specific benefit (what is that benefit)?
• Buying Behavior – How do they encounter and interact with your product (in the store, online or both)? What and how do they buy? Can you make their buying experience easier, faster, or more enjoyable?

If you know the customer, it increases your interactions’ effectiveness. You can communicate meaningful brand values and product benefits to the people who are most likely to buy it.  Firms get a better understanding of the selling points of a product when they know who is using it and why. They can improve on and create companion products to further build brand loyalty.

Once you have a handle on who your customers are you can further categorize them as to how profitable they are to you. Creating a matrix that distinguishes between high profit customer profiles with large growth potential down to the one time purchase customer profile. Identifying these groups will help create ad campaigns focused on the customers you want the most and cut wasted advertising on low growth profiles.