How Psychographics Strengthen Your Small Business Marketing

Whether you're starting up your business or have been in business a while, you must be exact to attract your ideal clients. However, when the going gets rough Small Business Marketing owners cast a wide net hoping to pull in someone. They quickly become disappointed when their prospect pipeline dries up.

One tool to keep that prospect pipeline full is your ideal client profile. Your ideal client profile is the description of the person you would be happiest to work with. It focuses on a specific kind of client. One that reads your materials and is so mesmerized by your message they keep reading. It means that when you speak to them, they are compelled to turn around, look your way, and listen to you.

Your ideal client profile is made up of more than just demographics. Most client profiles contain demographics and that's where many entrepreneurs stop. A client profile should also contain psychographics. Whereas demographics help you to understand who buys your product or services, psychographics helps you to drill down and understand why they buy.

Psychographics include internal attributes and attitudes. Your preferred client has attitudes, goals, beliefs, innate gifts and talents. When they possess those likeability factors, you enjoy working with them. If you have ever worked with someone you didn't like, you know how important these factors are. Spending time with people you don't like wastes time and energy compared with those clients you personally like to work with.

While your client profile isn't a checklist with which you measure all of your prospects, it gets you clear on turning off those who are not a fit and attracting those who are. This process will save you time and effort by helping you get really clear in your marketing messages so that you pre-qualify those prospects every time.

Conducting research is the first step to collecting your psychographic information. You can acquire this information simply by surveying people who have already purchased your products or services. If your business is in the start-up phase, you can survey people who have used similar products or services.

Understanding your preferred client's psychographics will enable you to market and pre-qualify your prospects with less effort. They will be attracted to your messages because they will see that you understand what makes them tick. Because you include these descriptors in all of your messaging, they will see you as the solution to their problem. If you haven't looked at your client profile in a while, dust it off and review those psychographics giving your business a critical winning edge.