No matter what sort of business you are in, success depends on finding a target market and aggressively pursuing it. Rarely is it enough to operate as a jack-of-all-trades retailer. While you certainly don't have to exclude particular demographics, focusing on a few core groups of customers will help your business boost sales and expand its reach to more potential customers.
So the question becomes: Who is your product for?
Create Profiles Based On your Existing Customer Base
If you are already in business, then you can learn a lot about your target demographics by analyzing your existing customer base.
First, the simple questions. Where do your customers live? How old are they? What is their gender and family situation? How educated are they? What do they do for a living, and how much do they make? All of this can be discovered by researching basic demographic data that the government keeps regarding your area.
"You can learn a lot about your target demographics by analyzing your existing customer base."
Then, it's time to think more deeply about the implications of this information. For instance, learning where your customers live can tell you a lot about their preferences. As a recent article in All Business points out, the region's climate regularly dictates the type of activities and hobbies that your customers are interested in. The makeup of their neighborhoods – whether they be urban, suburban or rural – will help you determine whether you should expect foot or auto traffic. And the type of work they do let's you know whether your business should prepare for an influx of customers during peak commute times.
The news source notes that once you have collected and analyzed this information, you can create a customer profile that describes, in detail, the types of people you are serving.
Continue To Evaluate Your Strategy
The next step is determining the effectiveness of your efforts to reach out to this target demographic. As noted by a recent article on Inc., you must ask yourself if the target is sustainable. In other words, are there enough potential customers out there to make your marketing efforts worth it? And do you understand how to craft a message that will reach them?
Remember, sometimes the best way to answer these questions is to ask your customers. Conducting a survey of your target market is a great way to find out what they are looking for, and there are plenty of sources in print and online that have already done so.
Always Keep An Eye On The Competition
Throughout this process, it is important to never forget about your closest competition. They will also be conducting their own market research to determine their optimal customer base.
If they conclude that their primary demographic is similar to yours, your business will have to compete heavily to hold onto a significant share of the customer base. But there are other options. You could instead choose to go around the competition by appealing directly to a niche market. While the number of potential customers may be smaller, the possibility of securing a loyal base is greater.
Seek Out A System For Data Collection
Planning a comprehensive retail strategy around the needs and desires of your customer base isn't something you can do effectively on pen and paper. Your business needs a system that can collect all of this relevant, impactful data from multiple sources and organize it in such a way that can deliver actionable insights. Interactive Edge offers a number of creative ways to get the most out of your data. Check out the rest of our website to learn more about the services we offer to our clients.
