Getting to Know Your Ideal Customer
By Levina Kusumadjaja
Can you imagine spending 4 hours just talking about one person? Yes, one person. A particular character—your relative, your friend, your friend’s friend, your past client. Just one person for 4 hours. What for? What is there to talk about?
I quickly learned from the Brand Strategy Bootcamp that it takes a lot of time to expound one’s ideal customer in a strategy workshop. This is a crucial part of brand strategy because the essence of being a brand strategist is helping brands connect with their customers. So, knowing who the brand wants to attract is key in the whole process. You can read more about why brands need an ideal customer persona here.
When you know exactly what your customer is going through, you can come up with solutions that uniquely solve their challenges in a way that no other brands can.
You need to spend a lot of time uncovering who your ideal customer is because you want to know who they are, what they are thinking, and how the brand can help them. To do this, you will have to dive into many things about your ideal customer, including demographics, daily routines, and customer journey.
As brand strategists, the moment you are able to understand this deep desire that the customer wants and the deep struggle he or she longs to overcome, you can build a brand that answers exactly that. If you know your ideal customer’s routines, what they are thinking during those times, and what they are struggling with, you can come up with creative ideas to interrupt their daily lives at just the right time, with the right solution.
How can you do that?
Here are 3 questions that you can start with:
What life principles do they live by?
Find out your customers’ life motto. Ask about their priorities. What things matter most to them? What values to they live by? How do they define success? You can understand someone’s behavior and thinking process by knowing what they value in life, because what someone does is an external expression of what they believe. The brands that someone buys from also reflect the values that they feel connected with.
What problems do they face in their personal life?
One of the most powerful ways to connect with someone is by understanding their problems and pain points. So, find out what your customers are struggling with. Are they tired? Are they losing purpose in their work? Do they need help in their financial management, or in preparing meals for their household? When brands are able to articulate and pinpoint these problems, it signals that these brands can answer what the customers need.
What do they aspire to be?
What are their goals? What are they trying to accomplish? What is the future state that they desire to pursue? What kind of parent do they want to be? Another way for brands to connect with customers is to connect with that future state. There is an almost automatic emotional connection between with the brand when customers believe the brand can bring them to that goal.
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Remember that the 3 questions above are just starter questions. Don’t be afraid to explore and dig deeper as you go. What other questions come to mind? What other things about the ideal customer that will the brand build a deeper emotional connection with the brand? Have fun digging for stories and golden nuggets! 🙂
Cheers!
Levina
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About the author:
Levina is a writer based in Indonesia. Because of Melinda Livsey, she recognized the power of brand strategy for every creative. She is sharing about her learnings as she goes to help creatives have fun in their growth and journey of building brands. Connect with her on LinkedIn and say hi!