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The best way to start learning more about who would want to buy your products is to find out who is already buying them. You can use this information to help target other people who have similar interests or who fall into similar demographic groups. If you have a store, pay attention to who your customers are. You may be able to tell a lot about them simply by being observant. You can also try engaging customers in conversation, asking customers to complete surveys, or creating a rewards program that requires the submission of personal information in order to learn more about your current customers. Rewards programs also allow you to track customers' purchases, which will help you understand what kinds of products a specific kind of customer is most attracted to. If you have a website, Google Analytics can tell you a lot about the people who are currently visiting your site. Many social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube, also have "insights" or "analytics" that provide information about demographics and interests. The manufacturer of a product can also likely provide customer demographics. If you don't have an established store or website, you can find out a lot about your potential customers by researching your competitors. Even if you do have your own store or website, you should still consider doing this research because it will show you if a certain competitor has been more successful at attracting a specific type of customer than you have. You can learn some basic information about your competitors' customers by looking at their social media accounts and viewing the profiles and/or comments of people who follow them. Some will even show you the most common age group of followers. If your competitor has a store, spend some time there and try to assess the kinds of customers who shop there. There is a ton of market research that has already been done and that can be very helpful to your business. Try searching online for market research, target markets, or customer profiles in your specific industry. The data might not be exactly what you would have collected if you had done it yourself, but it will provide useful insights nonetheless. Trade publications might also be a good source of information. If you've already done a ton of online research and observed your current customers, you may feel like you need some input from real people. It is possible to conduct this kind of research on your own, although you might want to consider hiring a professional firm if you are unsure about how to recruit good participants or interpret the data. Ask customer existing customers to complete surveys, either online or at your store. You can include questions about their demographics and interests, about the their perceptions of your product, and about what services or products they would like you to offer. If you want to get more responses to your survey, you can try paid online surveys. There are a variety of companies, including Swagbucks and Vindale Research, that will post your surveys online for a fee. You can also try conducting focus groups if you want to get more detailed information about how a specific group of people feels about your product or service. Once you have answered the questions about your business and conducted your market research, you can finish compiling a complete profile of your ideal customer. If you have multiple products or services, you may have a different ideal customer for each. Your profile should include a combination of demographic information, which will help you understand the socioeconomic status of your customers, and psychographic information, which provides insights into the personalities of your customers. Important demographic information may include age, racial/ethnic background, gender, marital status, education level, occupation, income, number of children, and location. Important psychographic information may include hobbies, interests, beliefs, religion, lifestyle, and technology preferences.
Find out who your current customers are. Find out who your competitors' customers are. Review existing research. Perform your own research. Complete your customer profile.