All business development activities are based on effective and efficient reaching out to the customer and satisfying his needs. All marketing issues aim at exactly the same end result, changing tools, methodology or means. The basis of the company's success is a thorough understanding of customers and their needs, motivation or specification of activities. You will be helped by ideal customer profiles, i.e. the staff of the ideal customer, to whom you will be able to successfully lead your successful communication ending with the finalisation of the purchasing process.

What is an ideal customer profile?

Ideal customer profile is a model of a fictional customer from your target group, containing information about their specifics, demographic data, geolocation, motivation of actions, activities, needs or fears. The specificity of the staff is maximally adjusted to the product or service proposed by your company, its vision, mission or goals for further development. Determining the ideal customer profile is a multi-steps task, requiring answers to numerous questions about many aspects of consumers. 

It is also worth remembering that in marketing activities you do not have to limit yourself to creating only one ideal customer profile. Some branches, especially marketplace solutions or products working in B2B2C model even require the creation of several such models! If it will help you to realize your business objectives, a few ideal customer's person is a good idea. However, beware of excessive multiplication, which will ultimately make the communication process difficult, bring complications in determining the needs of the target group and problems with matching the content.

How to create the right ideal customer profile?

First of all, you have to remember that all data about the target group of your product or service and your existing customers should be included. It is worth to start by collecting information about the consumers inside your company. Diversifying the channels of information acquisition you can meet with another feedback, which in total will allow you to determine the exact image of your target group. Analysts of user behavior on your website or social media communication channels can also help. You can use tools like Google Analitycs, SimilarWeb or Facebook Audience Insights. Having a significant amount of previously mentioned information about the recipients you can start creating the ideal client's staff.

What information makes up the ideal client model?

It is necessary to collect all information about the demographic data of the clients (such as age, gender, ethnic group or education), geolocation of recipients, summary of the psychological profile, as well as the realization of the behavioral profile. It is also important to identify the risks taken by the consumer as well as his or her objections (i.e. uncertainty).

In order to create a profile that is as consistent as possible with your target group and that allows you to increase the effectiveness of your company's activities, you should go through the following five steps.

1. First, learn about the original motivation of customers interested in your product or service. 

During this stage, determine what made the consumer decide to look for a given service or product at all. This may be due to a multi-stage sales funnel, increasing brand awareness through reliable branding activities or simply a regular need. 

To get a good idea of your customers' original motivation, ask yourself the following questions:

• What caused the customer to start looking for a particular product/service?
• How did the consumer find our product/service?
• What makes a customer different from other customers who are not looking for a solution?

2. Then visualize the success criterion, i.e. what the consumer expects from your product or service.

The key here is to determine what the customer needs and why the consumer wants to buy the goods we offer. Think carefully about the motivation for the product or service, fear of failure, and uncertainty after the transaction. 

To better define the criterion of success, answer the questions:

• What effects do you expect from our product/service?
• What do you expect from our product/service? What is the motivation for making a purchase?

3. The next step is to learn about the purchase barriers of our client from the target group. 

A common situation is abandoning the shopping cart while completing the order in the online store. At some point, the customer encounters a barrier which, despite previous commitment of time and attention, gives up the purchase. There can be many such barriers and they result from various motivations.

In this section, ask yourself the following questions:

• What can prevent a customer from taking advantage of your offer? What may induce you to buy from your competitors?
• What makes the consumer look for other, alternative products/services?  
• Why can a customer trust your brand?
• What will convince the consumer that the organization in which he wants to buy a product or service has the right competence and experience and will ultimately get what the company promises?

4. Now focus on exploring the shopping path. You can determine it through a process or a sales funnel.

It is worth defining individual steps that a client has to take between making a decision about satisfying his need and making a purchase transaction. This section is crucial especially in B2B sector, where not only many people are involved in the sales process, but also the funnel is much more complicated than in B2C sector. 

In order to verify the purchasing path well, answer the questions:

• What people are the decision makers in the purchasing process?
• What are the needs of each of the previously mentioned people and what is crucial for them?
• What do these people guide in making the final decision?

5. Finally, learn the criterion of choosing by your client!

Nowadays, during the time of widespread digitalization, the consumer has virtually unlimited possibilities to choose between hundreds of products. It is very important to determine why they have chosen your solution. This can be influenced by the features, functionality or total value of the items. Remember that each person has a different hierarchy of different aspects and it depends on your target group what will be a priority for the ideal customer.

Ask yourself questions:

• What criteria does the client follow when making a purchase? What features of the product/service are most important to them?
• Which point was the key to completing the transaction?

Just to summarize! On the basis of the collected information, build a marketing and business strategy for your company. Going through all five steps mentioned above will allow you to gain significant data which will allow you to effectively conduct marketing and sales activities basing the brand's activities on your client's real needs and motivation. Create the perfect customer person, so you can build a better offer for your company!