Going Beyond the Demographics: How to Improve Sales and Marketing Results

We've all heard how important it is to know your target market. But what if you don't have a well-defined target audience? What if you do, but want to create even better segments for them based on their buying habits?

In that case, knowing who your ideal customers are can be an extremely powerful tool for sales and marketing. An "ideal customer" is someone who has bought from you before and likely will again.

These loyal customers may not represent the majority of your business, but they are still worth pursuing because they're usually easier to sell to than new prospects -- especially if their needs aren't as urgent or critical as those of other people in the market who haven't yet bought from you.

Why Your Current Customers are the Best Source for Finding New Customers

If you’re like most business owners, you know that your current customers are an amazing source of new leads. They already trust you, have a relationship with you, and understand your value proposition.

But why do they know this? Why do they think it will be worth their time to talk to someone else about your services? Because they already know what you can do for them!

You might be wondering how this is possible when all of your marketing materials are focused on prospective clients… Well, here's the secret: Your ideal customers aren't sitting around waiting for someone to sell them something—they're busy making things happen in their lives.

They're not looking for solutions; they already have solutions (or at least ways of getting around issues). But these existing solutions aren't quite working out as planned...

Tell Me About Your Customer

It's important to get a sense of who your customer is and what they need. The best way to do this is to ask them directly, but it can also help if you do some research into your industry and competitors.

For example, if you're launching a new travel app for millennials, it might be helpful to know how many millennials are traveling in their 20s or 30s and where they're going on vacation. That way, when you build the app itself (and start promoting it), you'll have an idea of what kinds of features or content would appeal most strongly to this audience (e.g., articles about where young people go on vacation).

If there are no competitors out there specifically targeting your desired customer base yet (or if none exist), consider analyzing what other apps are used by that same group—you may be able to learn a lot from them!

Going Beyond Demographics

Demographics are important, but they're not the whole story.

In order to really understand your ideal customers, it's important to look beyond demographics and into psychographics. Psychographics is the study of how people think and feel. It covers things like lifestyle, personality, interests, opinions and values.

For example: let's say that you're selling women's clothing online—and you've got a business model that allows you to create one-of-a-kind garments for each customer based on their measurements and preferences.

You could design a survey with questions such as "what color does this person tend toward?" or "what kind of style does she prefer?" By answering these questions about her preferences for colors or styles (called "lifestyle"), you could create clothes that are more likely to appeal specifically to her tastes than general market offerings would be able to do alone because most retailers don't offer customizations like yours do!

Taking Action

Now that you have a better understanding of your ideal customers, it's time to take action.

• Improve sales and marketing results. The more you know about your ideal customers, the better prepared you'll be to meet their needs. For instance, if a large portion of your best potential customers are business owners in the manufacturing industry who are 40-50 years old and in need of an emergency generator, it may make sense to create an offer targeted specifically at this group (like a free consultation or trial period).

• Improve marketing and sales processes. Once you've identified which characteristics describe your best prospects, it will be much easier for sales teams to identify them when they're talking with prospects on the phone or during face-to-face meetings—and then focus their attention on those people instead of wasting time on others who aren't going to buy from them anyway (or won't buy until later). This can significantly boost conversion rates by qualifying leads before hand rather than trying to qualify them after each conversation takes place; meaning fewer wasted calls/meetings and more conversions per hour spent talking with potential buyers!

Using This Information to Improve Sales and Marketing Results

Now that you’ve identified who your ideal customers are, you can use this information to improve the following areas of your business:

• Sales and Marketing Strategy: Improve your marketing strategy, sales strategy and customer service strategy using this information.

• Product Development Strategy: Use this information to guide product development efforts. If people in the same niche have similar problems, focus on solving these issues when creating new products and services for them.

• Pricing Strategy: Use this information to guide pricing decisions. If people in the same niche have similar needs and solutions exist for those needs at different price points (high end vs low end), offer options at each level so there is something for everyone!

• Distribution Strategy: Identify where best to sell or market your products based on which niches are interested in them most aggressively (see “Competing For Attention”).

Refining Profiles to Take Action

Now that you have a profile of your ideal customer in mind, it's time to take action.

• Use the profile to inform your marketing strategy: Think about how this customer would come across your brand online and what content they'd engage with. To keep things simple, make sure all of this content is easy for them to find. Consider how different channels (like email or social media) might appeal more than others based on demographic or behavioral characteristics.

• Use the profile to inform your sales strategy: You should be able to identify which channels are most effective at converting these customers into leads by identifying where they're currently spending their time online. Make sure that these channels are prioritized over others when creating new marketing materials or making other changes that affect how people discover your products/services/brand.

• Use the profile to inform your customer service strategy: Customer service can be one of the best ways to get in touch with potential buyers who seem interested but haven't yet converted into paying customers -- especially if you offer live chat! Try using data from live chats and other interactions with fans as part of an ongoing conversation between fans and brand representatives until those fans become customers themselves; then use those insights as part of an ongoing conversation between customers and brand representatives (who have now been trained). This approach helps create trust between buyers/users who might not otherwise feel comfortable giving out personal details like credit card info or billing address info right away because they're not familiar enough with company policies regarding privacy policies etc. etc.

It's easier to sell to someone who's already bought from you.

It's easier to sell to someone who's already bought from you.

Customers are more likely to buy from you if they're already familiar with your brand. If a customer has purchased something from you, they know what type of service they can expect and have already been exposed to the quality of your products or services.

They'll also have a good idea of how much money it will take them to get what they want (e.g., your prices). In short, because customers have bought something from you in the past and had their needs fulfilled by doing so, they'll be more confident when buying again.

Conclusion

We've covered a lot of ground here, but it's all in the name of making sure you're serving your ideal customers well. You might even be surprised to find that they're already your customers—and once you know who they are and what they want, you can do everything from improving sales to refining your marketing strategy.

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