Do you know what your customer looks like? (How to build a great customer profile)

I’m just going to leave this here: a really strong customer profile (or two) is even more important for a small business marketing program than it is for a bigger business.

Why? Because larger programs have more money to spread around and therefore less need to be super targeted. (I’d argue that is lazy marketing, but there’s no need to go there.)

But you, as a small business owner, need every last marketing dollar to strike straight to the heart of your perfect, sure-to-buy customer.

Here are a few tips to start building that awesome customer profile:

Think about the easiest sale you ever made. That person who called you up/walked in/emailed you and just plunked down money without any persuasion. If you’ve been in business awhile, you should be able to come up with quite a few of these people—the more the better
Ask yourself: what did all these people have in common?
Write down those qualities. Include even little things that may not seem to matter (were they happy people? Did they like dogs a lot? Were they stressed? Were they male or female? What age? Did they have a lot of money or a little? Kids?)
Now, make a composite person with those qualities. Put a face to them, and people them with all the things that your perfect customers have in common. You may even want to name them. For instance, “this is Jenny. She’s a mother of three with no time on her hands. She’s always in a hurry, and really likes things that are easy. She’ll pay more if she doesn’t have to spend a lot of time figuring things out”.
Voila. You have a customer profile. If you have two very different groups of people that are great customers, make two.

Now? When you’re putting together your messaging, writing ad copy, creating content, posting on social media, or creating an offer, pretend that you’re writing to Jenny. It will help you connect to what matters to those perfect, wonderful, god-bless-them customers.

Happy marketing!

Katie & Theron

At Urban Sherpa Marketing Co. we offer marketing advisory, strategic planning, and services for small businesses and startups, including content marketing. Our goal is to make high-quality marketing possible for every business, no matter the size. Think of us as your outsourced marketing department, strategic marketing adviser, or even your phone-a-friend marketing lifeline. We specialize in building efficient marketing programs to grow your business without blowing the bank.

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Want small business marketing that works? Get to know your customer.

First, the bad news: the statistics on new business failure are pretty grim.

About half by year five. Yikes. Think about that for a moment, but don’t panic. Because there is good news.

The good news is that many experts (Forbes and Business Insider among them) cite a failure to understand and connect with customers as a top reason for a lack of success. And, while you can’t control macro shifts in the economy or really even market demand, you can fix this one.

Why does this matter, and what can you do about it?

Effective marketing is all about communicating your value proposition clearly to the right people. In order to do so you need to:

know who you are talking to
understand what matters to them
have an idea about how they like to communicate
know where they are most likely to interact with your communication

In other words, you need to know your customer.

But how?

As a small business, you probably don’t have the cash to hire a market research company or run a bunch of study groups. But you can talk to people. Here are some ideas of how to get to know your customer better:

Talk to customers when you have a chance. Ask them about what matters to them. People like to talk about themselves, so they’re usually glad to share

Think about who your “perfect” customer is (more on that here), then search those people out (maybe at the local Chamber?) and ask them if they’re willing to answer a couple of questions as part of an informal study group. You’ll not only get good information, but you may gain a new customer or two

Then—and this may not be as obvious as it sounds—act on the information you receive. Your customers like to search for what they need? You probably should try search marketing. Your customers do a lot of business networking? LinkedIn and professional groups may make more sense.

Happy small business marketing!

Katie and Theron

At Urban Sherpa Marketing Co. we offer marketing advisory, strategic planning, and services for small business and startups, including content marketing. Our goal is to make high-quality marketing possible for every business, no matter the size. Think of us as your outsourced marketing department, strategic marketing adviser, or even your phone-a-friend marketing lifeline. We specialize in building efficient marketing programs to grow your business without blowing the bank.

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Hello world. We’re Urban Sherpa Marketing Co.

I first truly understood the value of small business to the community when I was running the marketing department at a community bank. We had a lot of smaller privately-owned companies among our customers, and I spent a lot of time with them.

I learned that small businesses hire locally. They take care of their people. They know their customers. They know they have a role to play, and they take that role seriously. They give back. They are the threads that make up the fabric of our community.

And the thing is, once you understand the importance of the mom and pops, the startups, the small boutiques, the independent doctor’s offices, the cafes and restaurants, the service companies (I could go on and on), you can no longer be non-partisan. You have to fight for the survival of the small business.

This is why I called up a colleague of mine (his name is Theron Andrews), and decided to start Urban Sherpa Marketing Co. I know from experience that marketing is an area that challenges many small businesses, whether because the business owner doesn’t have the knowledge background, or simply doesn’t have the time. And marketing agencies are almost universally targeted to Big Business, and Big Business’ insane marketing budgets.

We’re the anti-agency. We’re your outsourced marketing employee, or your phone-a-friend marketing adviser—whatever you need most. We’re here to increase your revenue and to help your business thrive. We know small business marketing, and we love small business. Call us to chat, and we’ll see if we can help.

On another note, this is the last long-winded, all-about-us blog I’m going to write here. From here on out, I’m reserving this space for short, easy-to-implement tips for improving your marketing (we call ’em Guideposts)— whether we work with you or not.

Let’s flourish together, my friends!

Katie