CUSTOMER PROFILING FOR BUSINESS GROWTH
Customer Profiling in marketing is nothing new. However in the current economic environment that businesses are adapting to, re-evaluating our Ideal Customer Profile can make a dramatic difference to the success and stability of our businesses.
If your teams are looking at redefining who their Ideal Customer should be, here are some points that could help create Ideal Customer Profiles (ICP) that could help your business achieve it's full and true potential. If your teams already have an ICP that working well for the business then maybe they would like to consider if it's time to also look at untapped growth segments to aid in business growth.
The ICP for your business (B2B/ B2B2C/ B2C) simply put is "a detailed description of the type of customer/ company you're most likely to sell to; a customer who will benefit the most from the product or service that your company offers".
Generic statements will not help marketing teams get into the psyche of the buyer. Your company's ICP needs to dig deeper into their frame of mind, their wants, needs, fear, desires, challenges and limitations. It needs to understand and define not just where they work, where they live, what they earn, what they own but why do they believe what they believe; why do they do the things they do. It needs to give you insights into how, when, where they consume content so that you can engage with them where they congregate and give them what they need. It needs to help you understand what motivate them to take action, what drives them to choose you and how their decision-making process works. All of these details are invaluable when trying to grow a business and succeed in a competitive marketplace.
If you close your eyes while listening to your company's ICP, can you picture your ideal customer? If no, then your company is wasting marketing budgets on people that will never buy your product(s) or service(s).
Related Reading: Consumer Insights, Viral Marketing, Customer Centricity
A well-defined ICP will aid the marketing team understand the most urgent buyer problem(s) or pain point(s) that your company can solve. It will aid in devising with pin-point accuracy, a go-to-market communication strategy which in turn will help shorten sales cycles. In an economic climate where disposable income is lower, buyers (B2B and B2C) tend to tighten their purse strings and delay unnecessary purchases.
Having a ICP can be a powerful tool towards achieving marketing effectiveness; creating a Negative Customer Profile (NCP) can do wonders for your marketing efforts as well. A NCP helps you quickly recognise and avoid 'leads' that you don't want to target. These leads will either never convert, or take too much energy. These 'leads' will never be good for your business and hence will not only waste money but also time and effort. The goal behind developing a NCP is that your teams don't devote too many company resources into going down the rabbit hole with them.
Related Reading: Unleashing the power of experiential marketing, Marketing Budgets, Growth Marketing, Marketing Tactics
Conclusion
Irrespective of whether your company sells B2B or B2B2C or B2C; whether you sell products or services; whether your buyers are Gen X or Gen Y or Gen Z; recognising, understanding and accepting the 'new' dynamics of buyers, ignoring the stereotypes and the hype and communicating with patience and empathy could be the difference between exponential growth and mediocre growth.
Related Reading: Developing Performance Marketing Campaigns that Sell, How to Map Customer Journey's, Startup Killers, Successful Entrepreneurship
Trigger Worldwide is a Brand Marketing Agency, built specifically for businesses to create Sustainable Growth. Our proprietary tools and process methodologies harness Technology, Creativity & Innovation, leverage Economic Drivers and Consumer Beliefs to help businesses overcome marketing inefficiencies and achieve their Growth Agendas.
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