What is a consumer profile in business?
A consumer profile is a written compilation about the significant characteristics of your product users. In a consumer profile, users are grouped by categorical tiers which describe the specific segments that currently purchase your products. A customer profile, including a name and representative image, is developed for each identifiable consumer group. Consumer profile is also known as: Psycho-graphic Data, Consumer Portrait or Buyer Persona.
What is the purpose for developing a consumer profile in business?
The purpose for developing a consumer profile is to enable a more targeted and effective approach to marketing and advertising activities. This in turn leads to more sales and more profit for the business.
Your consumer profile paints a clear picture of the customer type your business should be targeting and which consumers are a perfect fit for your product. It also allows you to envision specific consumer groups and then more easily identify the things that motivate them.
When you develop a marketing strategy for a specific consumer profile, you will avoid the waste of time and resources and be far more successful at achieving your sales and marketing goals. The more focused and consistent you are with your marketing communications, the better you will be able to reach existing consumers and attract new ones to your business.
Consumer profiles provide a structured look at the consumer’s goals allowing you to identify the features and content that matters most to them. The specifically targeted messaging in your advertising will help new consumers in the profile group find you. Consumer profiles also can act as a simple way of talking about complex market segments.
What are the components of a consumer profile in business?
- The components of a consumer profile include four main parts: Who they are? What they do? What they think? Where they operate?
- Who they are? Lifestage, demographic, socio-economic status, age category, marital status, income level, education, occupation, sex
- What they do? Lifestyle, purchase history, product usage, behavior patterns, buying patterns, creditworthiness.
- What they think? Psychographic characteristics, traits, benefits sought.
- Where they operate? Area of residence, where they work, where they buy.
What is a consumer profiling like?
Consumer profile is like a sports coach selecting students for particular sports based on their physical stature and attitude. The coach would have developed a picture in their mind as to the ideal athlete for a particular sport and then directed students in training for that sport.
Customer profiling in business uses the same approach where a business builds a profile of the ideal customer for the product sold and then directs their marketing and advertising to meet the needs of that group.
When do businesses typically develop a consumer profile?
Businesses will typically develop a consumer profile before developing their marketing and advertising strategies. They need to know who is the perfect fit for the product and consumer profiling help a business do just that. The consumer profiling may take place before a business begins to trade or at a time of review for an existing business or even prior to the launch of a new product.
Typically some market research is carried out prior to the development of the consumer profile and involves an understanding of your own products, your mission as an organization, a review of customer feedback and some industry research.
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