Getting to know your customer really well is the secret to creating great advertising. There are lots of ways to do this. if you are a service-based business, talk to them. Ask lots of questions. Go where they spend time online and check out the things they are interested in.
But if your customers are less accessible to you, think about doing a bit of research. A great tool for this Survey Monkey which allows you to create customer surveys and can even help you to recruit respondents to your survey. www.surveymonkey.com
The kinds of things that you want to get to know really well about your customers are the following:
DEMOGRAPHICS – who are they? Age, gender, income level, occupation, location and other things relevant to your product or service such as sexual orientation, family composition, home ownership etc.
USAGE – who often do they use products/services in your category? What do they pay for them? What are their frustrations and pain points? Do they have unmet needs?
AWARENESS – what brands in your category have they heard of (list your competitors and your own brand)? Which ones do they actively use? Which ones would they recommend to a friend?
BRAND IMAGE – what do they think about the brands in your category in terms of things like price, value for money, service levels, quality, and other more lifestyle attributes such as being a brand that is trendy, fashionable, elegant, fun, for families, etc
