No matter which industry you’re in, you’ll have a variety of potential and real customers that you meet in your business day-to-day life. Understanding what makes them tick is the key to any successful business.

Creating a profile of your customers will give you the information you need to attract the right audience with your marketing strategy. One of the most practical ways of defining your customers is by building an “Avatar” that describes exactly who you are aiming for.

As a result, you’ll be able to home in on a more specific target audience, communicate with your audience in a more relevant and personalised manner, and ultimately, generate more revenue. To make this work, however, you also need to know your own brand, and how it’s perceived by people.

Know and Live Your Brand

As a builder or tradie knowing your brand and reinforcing it in all aspects of your business is just as necessary a step to attract your target market, as it is for the Coca-Cola’s or Richard Bransons of the business world. A brand communicates what your business stands for, and customers want to know that. And that’s what you need to tell them through all areas and contact points that people have with your business.

Having a company sign or logo displayed where people can see it, ie your car, your business premises, perhaps on your work shirts, on your tools, on your ladders, and of course all stationery, paper or digital documents.

It doesn’t end there, branding goes further, ie how you and your staff or contractors present themselves to clients and how reliable a service you give them, how easy you are to talk to and negotiate with.

People are more likely to do business with a company that has a polished and professional portrayal, they want to trust you and expect certain things from you… and you better not disappoint them. 🙂

Your brand is also coming to the fore in the way your manage your business financially. Businesses who have the cash flow to pay their suppliers on time will always be well looked after. If you want to know how healthy your cash flow is and how you could improve it, we offer a FREE Cash Flow Pulse Check to our readers. Just send us a message to arrange an appointment.

Businesses who have smooth invoicing processes and make it crystal clear what the customer is expected to pay at the end of the job or for the product are recognised for their professionalism in doing business. Your customers will definitely trust you more than if you are unclear. which can lead to massive misunderstandings.

When you know your brand, and it has a clearly defined mission, you’ll be ready to start profiling your customers and tweaking your approach to marketing as necessary.

Seek Feedback

Another key to customer profiling is finding out from your customers or potential buyers what they are looking for, what they expect from you. If you are providing a high end building service with all the bells and whistles, then you want to know exactly what your customers want, and I don’t mean the construction plans.

It’s about how you deliver it, how good your communication is with the customer, how you meet their needs at every possible turn. That’s what will set your builder or tradie business brand apart from others. And it’s this knowledge that you need to infuse your marketing and advertising messages with.

Seeking feedback is a critical ongoing process, but you should also start by doing plenty of research before you launch your marketing strategy. Your business will inevitably need to adapt over time to the needs and desires of its customers, not least because the customer has far more control these days than ever before by way of things like social media and online reviews.

Online client feedback can be so powerful, in fact it can make or break a business. You can also take advantage of this fantastic opportunity to engage with your customers, encourage reviews when someone tells you you did a good job. With permission from your clients, you can post images of jobs you’ve completed that show the quality of your work, and monitor any responses. They can be very insightful.

Feedback doesn’t always need to come from customers themselves either. You can gain invaluable insights, albeit not quite as accurate, by reviewing reports on your industry.

Create Your Customer Profile

Create a profile of your perfect customer. If your business has a particularly broad reach, then you’ll want to segment your target audience and create personas for each customer category.

Map out the behaviours and interests of your customers based on important factors such as demographics, buying habits, geographical location and more. You can even name these imaginary customers if you like, since this may help you to imagine them in a more practical light.

When defining your customer profiles, be sure to seek answers to the following questions:

• What other, related businesses would they likely choose to work with?
• What sort of subject matter is most likely to interest them?
• What are their demographical attributes?
• Where are they located?
• What do they need or want?
• What do your customers do to entertain themselves?
• What is their income level?
• How much would they be willing to spend?
• What are their priorities and goals in life?
• How do they approach change?
• What are their past purchases?
• How often have they purchased from you?

Putting your Customer Profile to Good Use

Every day, millions of people turn to Google to find answers to their questions, solutions to their problems or simply something to entertain them. What sort of queries does your business offer solutions for? Get online and do a bit of research, it’s at your fingertips.

By knowing your customers’ problems, curiosities and interests, you’ll be able to tailor your content, your marketing strategy and your product itself to better suit those criteria.

With your customer profiles in place, you’ll be able to match each area of your marketing strategy to the individual characteristics of your customers. By targeting smaller and more specific audiences, you should be able to increase the percentage of paying customers and valuable leads instead of wasting time and money on targeting the wrong people.

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