1. Creating Customer Profiles
Consumer Profiles & Marketing Research

2. What is a target Market?
A target market is any group of consumers to whom marketers want to sell their products and services
Companies break down their most likely customer by age, gender, race, occupation, salary level, geography, interests, and any other characteristic that is common amongst these consumers
Psychographics are a person’s feelings, beliefs, tastes, opinions and personality traits

3. Consumer Profiles
The more companies know about their potential customers, the better they are able to anticipate or influence their customers’ buying decisions
Marketers create consumer profiles of the kind of people most likely to be attracted to a specific product

4. Consumer Profiles
Companies then take these consumers and create marketing groups of consumers that share similar interests and buying habits
This enables marketers to ensure that their marketing efforts are
directed at the correct
group of consumers, the
ones that will be most
interested in the product

5. Sample Customer Profile
Sporting Goods Store
Individual 23 to 52 years of age
Participates in sports
Wants good-quality sports equipment
Looks for good prices
Lives in city of ______________
Average household income: $ per year

6. Consumer Profiles
Companies divide their consumer profiles between the:
Primary Market – the most likely consumer
Secondary Market – other, occasional consumers
Although companies spend the majority of the marketing budget on the primary market, they do allocate some to the secondary market

7. Consumer Profiles
Knowledge of consumer profiles affects the following elements of a marketing plan
Distribution Methods – how to best deliver the product to the consumer
Advertising – helps advertisers create meaningful messages
Product Design – consumers in a target market tend to like the same colours, shapes, materials, and other design features
Media – helps marketers send the promotional message to the right target audience

8. Primary Data
Information collected for the very first time to fit a specific purpose
Survey: list of questions to ask your customers to find out demographic and psychographic information
Mail, phone, Internet or in person
Observation
Want to open a juice bar in the mall, you might want to see how many customers you could attract
Focus Group – interviews with small numbers of people – more discussion and interaction

9. Where does the info come from?
There are 3 types of research that businesses use to discover trends affecting their target customers
Primary research
Involves collecting the information yourself through direct contact with potential customers
Much more expensive but usually more detailed and useful
Secondary research
Involves using information that has already been collected by others
Much cheaper but not always relevant or applicable
Internal research
Involves using a businesses own records to gather information about potential customers

10. Forms of marketing research
There are a number of forms that primary marketing research can take
Survey
Questionnaire to find information
Conducted by phone, mail, online, or in person
Observation
Staying detached from the potential customer, simply watching from a distance
Experimentation / product sampling
Testing the product or service with a small number of potential customers to determine reaction