What is a customer profile? Customer profiles are often referred to as buyer personas or user profiles. Essentially it means: A single document that lists key demographics, interests, and behaviors of your target customers.

No matter the size of your company, every business should know all it can about its potential and current customer base. Both small businesses and large corporations can use the info provided in a customer profile to identify who your products and services naturally appeal to. 

So how do you create your ideal customer profile that targets the right audience for your business? Here are the 5 steps we use to create customer profiles for our clients.

5 Steps to Creating Your Ideal Customer Profile

STEP 1: Always Start with Demographics

By paying attention to demographics, you can start to build a general consumer profile before moving on to specifying further. Demographics describe who we are as individuals, for example: ethnicity, age/generation, gender, income, marital status, education, and homeownership. Specifying the target demographic your business is interested in is just one step in creating the perfect customer profile. 

A Demographic Includes: 

• Age
• Gender
• Geolocation
• Ethnicity
• Occupation
• Education

STEP 2: Understanding Psychographics

The more you know about your customers’ individual likes, dislikes, desires, aversions, and overall personalities, the easier it will be to entice them with your brand messaging and lead generation.

Psychographics Include: 

• Personality characteristics
• Lifestyle
• Hobbies/interests
• Spiritual beliefs
• Habits, where do they hang out(real world and online)? 
• What are their hopes, dreams and aspirations.

STEP 3: Know Your Customer Goals

Thinking about the customer's journey will help you understand who you're trying to reach. By understanding their needs, challenges, and goals, you'll develop a stronger sense of what your customers want from your business.

Some examples of your customers goals would be: 

• Friendly, empathetic service
• A functional product or service that solves a problem
• Seamless return policy

STEP 4: Identify Your Customers' Values

Today’s consumers don’t just care about price or quality. They also want the product or service they buy to solve a problem or fulfill a need. With an endless supply of options at their fingertips, buyers are looking for companies that consistently deliver value. So what are your customers' values? Generally they include a combination of these four things: 

• Functional — the qualities of the brand, product, or service 
• Emotional — the way the brand, product, or service makes the customer feel 
• Life-Changing — the way the brand, product, or service alters the life of the customer
• Social Impact — the way the brand, product, or service alters the life of others

STEP 5: Identify Your Customers' Problems/Pain Points

Every customer is different, and some of them don’t even know what their pain point is until they find something to fix it. That’s where your business comes into play. All businesses no matter how big or small revolve around providing a solution for their customers with their product or service. You have to conduct qualitative market research that involves mapping customer journeys and analyzing the data related to prospects’ pain points. 

Customer Pain Points to Consider: 

• Internal Problems - Personal (i.e. Insecurity, doubt)
• External Problems - Physical problem (i.e. need lawn care - hire a landscaping company)
• Philosophical Problems - Think of this in terms of good vs evil or overcoming bad with good. (i.e. everyone deserves access to clean water)

Need Help Targeting Your Ideal Customers? Contact Origin Media Group Today! 

At Origin Media Group, we believe you shouldn't have to be a skilled designer or marketing expert to grow a successful business online. We’ve combined the science and psychology behind successful advertising and visual communication, with next-level creative design and proven marketing strategies to help you start and grow your brand 'the right way’.

Starting a business and need help creating your ideal customer profile? Contact Origin Media Group to find out more about what you’ll need to attract your ideal customer.