1. Chapter 4: Profiling Your Target Customer – Research to Discover Customer Needs
Learning Objectives:
Understand that your key to survival is knowing your Target Customer and providing a product or service that has real value to them
Identify primary and secondary Target Customers
Learn how to use media kits and online data to profile Target Customers
Understand how specific lifestyles, demographics, life stages and social group factors impact individuals and their decisions
Explore various profiling systems
Profile Business to Business (B2B) customers
Interview, observe, and survey to gain insight into your Target Customer
Develop your customer-profiling ability into a reflex
Visualize your Target Customer by preparing a Target Customer collage
Constantly review and update information on your Target Customer

2. The Power of Profiling
Understanding your Target Customer is your key to survival in small business
The goal is to find a market niche
Developing long-term relationships & community is essential
The Success & Challenges of an Autistic Entrepreneur
The Source Book of Multicultural Experts 2011/2012

3. Three Types of Target Customers
Primary Target Customer
Possesses the resources to purchase your product
Has a need or desire & the authority to make the purchase
Can be reached at a reasonable cost
Secondary Target Customer
Almost slips away before you can focus the camera
Keeping good records will help you identify them
May lead you to the invisible customer
Invisible Target Customer
Appears after you have the courage to open the doors and talk to whomever walks in

4. What Can We Learn From Published Sources?
For many businesses print media will be an important part of the promotion mix
Media sources have conducted extensive research to develop demographic & psychographic profiles of their Target Customers
The key is to know which media sources your Target Customer reads
Reviewing the Media Kit
Changing Profiles

5. Action Step 24: Media Kit Assignment - Target Customer
Choose 5 magazines and/or online sites that your Target Customer reads or visits
Locate a media kit for each
Compare the magazines & sites using your new eyes and define the target market for each
Compare your new-eyes profile with the demographic & psychographic information and rank the magazines from 1 to 5
Even if you can’t afford to advertise due to costs, you can keep an eye on competitors & your target market

6. Profiling In Action – Action Step 25: Initial Customer Profile
Based on what you know continue to profile your Target Customer using:
Census, SRDS, Strategic Business Insights
Market Research.com, Experian
EASIdemographics
To profile your B2B customers use:
Hoovers, D&B, Edgar Online, LinkedIn
Jigsaw, infoUSA, ThomasNet

7. Profiling Business to Business (B2B) Customers
Segmentation of business markets include many factors including:
NAISC or SIC Codes, Sales Revenue
Number of employees, Location
Purchasing method, Credit risk
Years in business, Ownership type
International vs. U.S. sales
Ability to reach decision maker
Economics, Competition & Barriers to entry

8. Profiling Business to Business (B2B) Customers
Use available secondary business information to help you:
Check a firm’s financial stability
Discover ownership of a firm or its subsidiaries
Locate specific companies & search industries
Size up current & new markets
Search potential prospects or employees
Identify decision makers so you can reach them
Identify & track competitors

9. Primary Research Is Absolutely Necessary
Field Interviews
Gather information to make decision regarding your Target Customer
Find out your competitors strengths & weaknesses
Observing Target Customers
Inexpensive & effective way to learn how your Target Customer behaves
Surveys

10. Action Step 26: Interview and Observe Prospective Target Customers
Observe your customer in the marketplace
Take notes as you simply observe
Prepare for interviews
Develop questions in advance
Avoid simple yes – no questions
Keep an open mind
Consider conducting research online
Post questions to social networks
Check out Survey Monkey & Ask Your Target Market

11. Make Customer Profiling A Reflex
Takes time, energy, and diligent maintenance of sales records
Predicting customer needs will become easier
You may uncover previously invisible customers
Listen to unexpected requests and be quick to respond to these opportunities

12. Visualizing Your Target Customer – Action Step 27: Target Customer Collage
Develop a collage – a composite image of your target customer
Make a list of your customers’ favorite things and make it part of your collage
Your collage should represent the demographics, geographics & psychographics of your market
Keep your collage in your line of sight as you prepare to hit the market
FOCUS! FOCUS! FOCUS!

13. Summary – Question to answer through profiling your Target Customers
Who are my Target Customers? How can I best reach them?
What need will my product or service fill?
Where & how can I communicate my message with a minimum of confusion to my Target Customers?
What additional services do my Target Customers want?
What quality of service or product will meet my customers’ desires? What are they willing to pay?
Who else is after my customers?
Why do my customers act the way they do?
How can I build a long term relationships with my customers and encourage them to be raving fans & thus recruit new customers?

14. Think Points for Success
Psychographics is the charting of your customer’s life, mind, soul, and spirit
Segmenting is discovering the piece of the pie you should focus on
You can save a lot of time & money by using market research that has been conducted by others and such research should always be undertaken first
To discover your target market, use everything available; media kits, Internet metrics, demographic studies, life-style segmentations, and census data
Use NAISC or SIC codes to begin your research for business-to-business customers
Focus on your Target Customer