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Researching The Customer: Developing a Profile

Who is my customer? It's a hard question to answer and needs a lot of research to determine your true target market. To sell to your customers, you need to know what they "look" like, where to find them, and what they want or need. In marketing they say, "It's not who you know, it's what you know about them." That is what the customer profile needs to tell us. It includes a demographic profile (who they are) and a psychographic profile (how they think, and what they like).

Demographic Profile
Demographic information can be gathered from secondary sources such as Statistics Canada or BC Stats. Having the demographic information is a good way to get a general idea of a target market before doing a survey.

Psychographic Profile
Once you have identified the demographic group, then you turn your attention to the potential customer's psychographic profile, which encompasses the customer's characteristics or opinions on your product. This can be done through surveys, talking to people, or observation (i.e., watching what they take off of the shelf.) Surveys are primary research - it's first-hand information. Through a survey you can learn more about your customer's likes, values, and other characteristics.