HOW TO CREATE A CUSTOMER PROFILE?

A target audience portrait is a set of typical characteristics of a company’s existing and potential customers. The target audience refers to the group of people targeted by the brand’s marketing. A target audience portrait is a necessary tool for promoting a new business project, launching a specific company activity, and within the context of increasing sales and improving various customer acquisition channels.

Developing a target audience avatar, meaning the description of an imaginary average representative of the target audience, is similar to creating a character in the computer game Sims. The marketer’s focus is primarily on the needs and problems, lifestyle, and various social characteristics of each target audience segment. Physical appearances play a certain role only in specific business sectors, however, for convenience, one can always visualize the target audience portrait — create a mood board or simply draw the character.

What will be discussed

What is a Target Audience Portrait and What are Its Key Components?

All of a company’s marketing materials, from social media posts to the website, should be targeted at the audience. The target audience (TA) is a structural unit of the target market. These terms are often confused, but the latter is more general. In turn, the audience is also divided into segments. For example:

  1. Business direction: Website development.
  2. Target market: Small business.
  3. Target audience: Internet sellers.

TA segments:

  • E-commerce owners who want to improve their online business results;
  • Beginners selling products on Instagram and wanting to create a website;
  • People who have not sold anything yet but dream of opening an online store.

In most cases, within a certain target market, there are multiple target audiences.

“Your target audience is not your target market. Your target market is those for whom your product or service is intended. On the other hand, your target audience is a specific group of people within your target market that your marketing tries to reach.”. — “How to Find Your Target Audience in 5 Steps”, Céillie Clark-Keane, Head of Marketing for Building Ventures

The target audience can be characterized by many parameters, depending on the business field and its specifics. For example, for a confectionery chain, it is important to understand which candy fillings and types of coffee visitors prefer, while for a floral salon, such customer preferences are unnecessary.

There are a number of universal criteria that every marketer and entrepreneur needs, regardless of the company’s field of activity:

  • Age.
  • Gender.
  • Location or region of residence.
  • Education.
  • Profession, position.
  • Income level.
  • Interests, hobbies.
  • Fears, problems.
  • Websites they spend time on, social networks they use.

Detailing characters allows for directing marketing budgets to relevant advertising, thus saving money and increasing website conversion, etc.

Advertising cannot exist without psychology, in particular, we all know about the effectiveness of neuromarketing. A significant portion of consumers are guided by emotions rather than logical reasoning when making a purchase decision. Therefore, it is important to consider the psychotype of the average customer — his individual attitudes and behavioral stereotypes.

What is a target audience profile and what are its key components?
Yak stvorti portrait of CA

In addition to temperament and other psychological features, attention should be paid to motivating factors, i.e., the reasons for purchasing. Customer motivation by the tasks that the product solves is conventionally divided into three types:

  1. Functional: A woman’s office bag should be made of genuine leather or high-quality faux leather, as it is intended for daily use. The customer is interested in convenience and capacity.
  2. Social: Meanwhile, a bag for a celebrity party does not necessarily have to be practical. In this case, the brand and brightness play a role, sometimes even outrageousness or uniqueness of the product.
  3. Personal: This factor is key when choosing products for the home, gifts, sweets, etc. Such products are created and purchased to create a cozy atmosphere, ensure comfort, or elicit positive emotions

Understanding the lifestyle and preferences of clients allows for improving both the advertising and the product, and understanding their motivation also helps determine the optimal quantity of the product. This involves seasonal business, demand spikes for thematic products during holidays or movie premieres, and social conditions for popularity (for example, cool summer drinks in ‘Instagrammable’ glassware, ‘Paw Patrol’ toys, clothing with patriotic symbols).

Stages of Creating a Target Audience Portrait

The process of creating a target audience portrait can be lengthy and involve multiple stages. Ideally, the results should be regularly updated by repeating the research and making adjustments to the client avatars. Changes can be influenced by various factors, including political and social conditions, the emergence of a strong competitor in the market, or an expansion of the company’s product range.

Before creating a target audience portrait, take time to study the product. Even if you are the business owner or the direct creator of the product or service, there’s always an opportunity to gather more information. This can be done by monitoring competitors and communicating with existing customers. It is also advisable to conduct a SWOT analysis of the product, which will help identify strengths and weaknesses, improve it, and ultimately understand who your real target audience is.

Let’s describe the main steps towards creating a detailed and accurate target audience portrait.

  1. Communicating with Customers

Existing customers have responded positively to the company’s sales offer, so communicating with them will help determine what your ideal customer should be like. Analyze both regular customers and those who have made one or two purchases.

Ask them why they chose your company, how they learned about it. After that, you can ask a series of more personal questions:

  • What problem were you trying to solve when you turned to us?
  • If you have used other suppliers in the past, what issues did you encounter?
  • Did you have any doubts when choosing our company?
  • Can we do anything to improve our service or product?
  • What media or blogs do you read?
  • What social media and messengers do you use?
  • How much time do you spend online?
  • What is the main benefit of our product for you?
  • What additional benefits would you like to receive?
  1. Analyzing Social Media Followers

People often follow commercial pages on social media to learn about new products and discounts. The personal brand of the store owner can also influence users’ decisions if this approach is used in a specific business.

Many people refuse to complete surveys or fill out lead forms with multiple fields, yet they readily post all their personal information on their personal Facebook profiles. For Instagram, you can choose a few active target audience representatives and monitor their blogs to determine their interests and other characteristics based on their photos and texts.

  1. Getting to Know Website Visitors

To monitor the behavior of website visitors, Google Analytics is sufficient. This tool shows demographic data, the source of the visit (where the user came from), behavior on the site (what they read, which videos and sections are of interest), and key queries (what they are interested in, what they search for on Google). The “Interests” tab provides a view of affinity categories and market segments.

  1. Competitor Audit

Consider which customer acquisition channels your competitors use, and what triggers they use in their advertising. Use successful ideas, but do not repeat their phrasing or visuals, stay unique.

  1. Filtering Out the Irrelevant

Determine who is not a representative of your target audience. For example, if you sell women’s sportswear, you should not invest in advertising aimed at men. Even if most criteria match, or you think a man might buy sportswear as a gift for his wife, focus exclusively on your target consumers.

  1. Gathering Information and Documenting Results

After analyzing the data collected, consider how you would like to visualize the avatar. It could be a detailed infographic or a simple table created in Excel.

Consider two examples of avatars obtained from analyzing the target audience of a vocal school in a small town.

The first category of customers is young mothers, as the school has a group for children aged four and older. In this case, preschoolers and schoolchildren belong to the secondary target audience, as adults ultimately make the decision to enroll. Typically, this is a woman aged 30-40, married, with one child or who recently had a second. She has a higher education, works in a public institution or does intellectual work online. She spends her free time on Instagram and Facebook, uses Viber and Telegram. She is interested in child psychology, fashion, recipes, and sports. Some of these women regularly visit the gym and prefer a healthy diet.

Portrait of the target audience

The second segment is teenage girls who have performed at school concerts, want to participate in contests, be popular, and develop their talent. They are active, try to attend all events happening in their town, pay little attention to school subjects unless influenced by parents. They are creative, love being the center of attention, are fans of modern singers. They want to resemble their idols, care about their appearance, want to be attractive to the opposite sex, read magazines. Some of them write poetry or prose. They spend their free time on Instagram and Tik-Tok. They relax in the local café or pizzeria.

how to create a portrait of the target audience examples

Certainly, there could be more segments, for example, separately identifying mothers of teenagers and shy high school girls who doubt their talent because they have never sung before but want to find new friends.

To ensure the advertising of the private vocal school stands out and is not associated with just another section, which there may be several of in the town, it is crucial to carefully work on triggers that touch on the pains of these two target audience segments.

For the first category, the result of enrolling a child in the school will be the development of the daughter or son, the opportunity to boast about her achievements to relatives and friends, and the child’s gratitude if the learning process is genuinely interesting. Therefore, the advertisements should focus on the qualifications of the teachers, the reputation of the founder, the playful form of teaching, and a comfortable atmosphere for the children.

For the second category, it is important to provide information that the school is modern, the teachers are young and progressive. Explain that everyone will have the opportunity to sing like their favorite pop stars, even their songs. Position the school as a hub of entertainment combined with development, a place where they can find new friends and then go together for coffee or pizza.

These brief and simplified target audience portraits not only describe what should be covered in marketing materials but also suggest where to place advertisements. Using avatars, you can envision the typical client and present the school from an angle that will interest them.

📌 Read in the blog: What is a Call-to-Action?

Types of Target Audience

Every target audience has a core. This core includes active customers who generate most of the profit due to a high average check or a long-term collaboration, and loyalty to the brand. These loyal customers often act as brand advocates and recommend the company to their friends.

When it comes to a blog, the target audience can be divided into those interested only in informational content and those who are potential customers for products or services. The former can be converted into customers, thus forming a separate segment of the target audience that should be shown individual CTAs and interspersed with advertising offers along with useful information. For instance, placing a lead form in the blog with a call to subscribe and receive useful checklists, books, and videos, and planning a series of emails with several commercial offers — promotions, case studies, reviews, descriptions of new catalog items, etc.

Types of Target Audience

  1. Primary Target Audience: These are people who buy and use the purchases, and also make purchasing decisions for others.
  2. Secondary Target Audience: This is a more passive group that includes consumers who are not initiators of the purchase.

For the primary target audience, typical characteristics include interest in ordering or buying, results from the purchased product, the ability to make a purchase (financial capability), susceptibility to the company’s marketing, and sometimes loyalty to the brand.

The target audience can also be conventionally divided into two types based on the business model — B2C and B2B. One company can simultaneously work with both types of target audiences. For example, a skincare manufacturer supplies products to beauty salons and sells goods to consumers in its branded store.

Defining B2C Target Audience

For companies that deal with individual consumers (B2C), it is necessary to determine the following target audience criteria:

  • Gender;
  • Age;
  • Place of residence;
  • Marital status;
  • Type of activity;
  • Income level;
  • Typical problems;
  • Desires and dreams;
  • Hobbies;
  • Where the user spends most of their time, which social networks they use.

Example of a B2C buyer portrait — female customers of a cosmetics store

CategoryInformation
NameAlina
GenderFemale
Age30 years old
ResidenceKyiv
Marital StatusMarried, has 1 child
OccupationOffice worker (industry not important)
Income Level$800
Typical ProblemsT-zone issues, dry skin, pigmentation
Desires and DreamsTo find cosmetics that will 100% solve her skin problems, while keeping within a budget of $40 per month for skincare products.
HobbiesSports, dancing, psychology.
Favorite Social Networks, PlatformsInstagram

How to Define a B2B Target Audience

For businesses that collaborate with entrepreneurs and other companies (B2B), it is essential to know the following information about their clients:

  • The economic sector in which the client operates;
  • How much they typically spend;
  • Which executive makes the decisions;
  • The number of employees in the company;
  • Which suppliers the client works with, etc.;
  • Typical business problems and fears;
  • Business goals and needs.

Example of a B2B customer portrait — the owner of a beauty salon, a purchaser of branded cosmetics.

CategoryInformation
NameViktoriya
GenderFemale
Age45 years
ResidenceKyivska Borshchagivka
IndustryCosmetology
Typical Monthly Expenditure on Products$600
Decision-MakerThe person who makes decisions
Number of Employees in the CompanyFrom 3 to 8 specialists
Suppliers they work withWhite Orange, Marie Cosmetics, Ya-Yan
Favorite Social Networks, PlatformsFacebook, Telegram, thematic blogs
Typical Business Problems, FearsDue to a small customer flow, products do not pay off. New customers do not understand good cosmetics and do not appreciate the service. Innovations may not be liked by regular customers.
Business Goals, NeedsChoose 1-2 regular suppliers. Build a community of regular customers, conduct training, exhibitions, and other events related to body care.

Some criteria for characterizing different target audiences overlap, but while personal desires and fears are crucial for B2C clients, business goals and problems are paramount for B2B. The financial capability of the two avatars differs; therefore, in the first case, the product range should be quite broad, including budget products and discounted sets, while in the second case, it is advisable to offer expensive cosmetics, providing educational materials and presentations of product benefits for salon clients, case studies, and reviews.

Julia Sotnikova

Marketer’s Comment

A marketer must clearly and immediately identify the target audience. This is true for those with a marketing education, but not all marketers have this background. As a result, major mistakes can occur, which could cost money and even lead to a complete loss of business for the client. Here’s an example.

In an audit of a novice marketer, I saw a peculiar conclusion:

“The age group from 35 to 44 has the highest cost per click (CPC) and cost of impression. It is necessary to reconsider the appropriateness of advertising to this age segment.

Interestingly, your target categories are conventionally 55 years and older, meaning the older, more affluent part of the population. This includes both women and men (although women dominate). We also see that for this age range, the CPM is the lowest, meaning advertising to them is the cheapest, indicating that other advertisers in your niche are not targeting this group, which you should take advantage of”.

In other words, the marketer saw that the 35-44 audience is the most expensive, meaning it should be excluded, leaving teenagers, older adults, and the elderly.

The client’s service, which he offered to the target audience, was purely operational for company directors. Naturally, the youth are mostly not yet directors, nor are the directors 45+, who are moving out of operations, and those 55+ have already moved out, making this service irrelevant to them as well.

The 35-44 audience is the most expensive for our client precisely because it purchases.

For example, advertising for Chanel cannot be cheap, as is the case with any premium brand. Believe me, if you don’t see such brands advertised on social networks, it doesn’t mean they don’t exist; it means you have not yet entered the target audience of these brands.

The audience of the wealthiest and most willing to spend is not cheaply targeted almost extravagant lead price because they buy. It’s better to have one client paying $3000 than 1,000,000 viewing teenagers or students who don’t buy, and brands understand this very well.

Of course, the target audience for a toy brand and a steel mill will be different.

Such detrimental conclusions can be made by young inexperienced marketers, so be careful, and seek services from reputable agencies, such as ours.

Julia Sotnikova, CVO in marketing.link

Why is Target Audience Analysis Necessary?

Any advertising campaign begins with a portrait of the target audience. Along with a SWOT analysis of the business, it forms the foundation of a marketing strategy, allowing for the planning of actions that will resonate with different segments of the target audience at the optimal time and on the right platforms. Understanding the needs of a typical target audience member prevents unnecessary marketing and advertising expenses, helps create personalized offers, and attracts new customers.

Based on the target audience portrait, marketers prepare relevant Unique Selling Propositions (USPs) and Calls to Action (CTAs), develop effective sales funnels, and enhance customer loyalty. Also, understanding the audience’s needs allows for product improvements and enhances brand value.

The data outlined in the buyer avatar description can be utilized across various marketing channels:

  • Targeted advertising on Facebook, Instagram, and other social networks.
  • Contextual advertising on Google.
  • Email marketing, messenger newsletters.
  • Blogs on websites or social media.
  • Webinars, masterclasses, and other online and offline events.

For instance, Airbnb recognizes that many of its clients are pet owners who cannot leave their animals at home. Therefore, they occasionally show on their social media page that many property owners are pet-friendly, and staying anywhere in the world with a small dog is not a problem.

Why do you need to analyze the target audience

Airbnb also conducts campaigns targeted at young couples, elderly people, and families with children. For example, one Instagram post was from a customer who traveled with her son and posted about temporary accommodation found through the company. This is a great example of User Generated Content (UGC) that targets a specific segment of the target audience.

how the target audience creates big brands

Starbucks’ target audience is very diverse, as is their advertising, evident from just their Instagram page. Many posts are dedicated to friendships and family gatherings, making it more advantageous for groups to visit their cafes.

Starbucks and the target audience

Food establishments often position themselves as a place for the whole family, as the majority of their visitors are families with children. However, it’s important to consider that there are additional segments for which other advertisements should be developed, such as business lunches for nearby office workers.

Methods and Tools for Target Audience Research

To gather information about existing and potential clients, it is advisable to start with online communities. If you have a large customer or subscriber base, you can always ask them a series of direct questions.

You can post questions on social media, forums, and other online platforms where your customers spend time. A thorough, albeit labor-intensive method, is to engage in discussions in the comments of other people’s posts.

Using Google Forms for surveys is a popular and versatile tool for target audience research. Surveys can be conducted at the stage of getting acquainted with the product range or two weeks after a purchase, depending on the business niche. Surveys can also be conducted in closed communities, where all participants are loyal and willing to provide informative and honest responses.

If the scale of the company allows, you can organize communication via phone, Skype, Zoom, Google Meet, or one of the messengers.

Let’s consider three concepts of target audience research:

User Personas

This method resembles filling out a profile on social networks. The improvised dossier includes demographic data, experience using a similar product, motivation (to earn more), and barriers that hinder making a purchase.

Sherrington’s 5W Method

This involves creating a psychological portrait of the audience using five questions:

  1. What? We segment the target audience by type of goods or services.
  2. Who? We define audience categories considering gender, age, and other characteristics necessary for analysis.
  3. Why? We understand what problems consumers solve using the product.
  4. When? We consider when and under what circumstances customers use the product or service.
  5. Where? We describe points of contact with the brand.

Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) Concept

This method focuses on developing ways to engage customers based on their motivation to purchase. It considers the ultimate motives and the results that the consumer wants to achieve.

Based on the number of analyzed responses, audience analysis methods can be divided into quantitative (various surveys) and qualitative (interviews). These involve communication with consumers and processing their responses. Qualitative research methods also include consultations with market experts, audits of social media profiles, and analysis of competitor audiences.

Mistakes in Creating a Target Audience

Two main and completely opposite mistakes marketers make when creating a target audience portrait:

  • Too much information. In describing the avatar, it’s easy to get carried away and include characteristics that do not affect the purchasing decision.
  • Too few details. Clear criteria are needed, not generalized target settings.

Thus, an effective target audience portrait should contain a lot of information, but all of it must relate to your business.

Answers to Common Questions

How to create a target audience portrait?

To create a target audience portrait, you need to determine who interacts with the product or brand and characterize the typical customer of the company using criteria important for the business.

How to describe the target audience?

A target audience description can be made using social media analysis, Google Analytics, surveys, interviews, etc.

How to calculate your target audience?

To calculate your existing target audience, you can use customer counts in a CRM system or subscriber counts on social media. The potential target audience includes all people who fit the target audience portrait but have never ordered or subscribed on social media. Consider seasonal business trends, market trends, and social and other conditions.

What must a target audience portrait include?

A target audience portrait can include numerous criteria, but the most important ones are considered to be residence, age, gender, field of activity and position, education level, income, interests, typical problems, desires, and dreams.

How to analyze a website’s target audience?

To analyze a website’s target audience, primarily use Google Analytics. This tool can tell you about the location of visitors, the devices they use to access the web resource, where they come from, and how they behave on the site. You can also place a survey on the site and offer a bonus for responses or add an extended lead form with many fields.

What can the target audience be?

The target audience can be primary and secondary. The primary category includes people who make the final decision about payment, while the secondary includes those who do not initiate purchases and take a passive part in interactions with the company.

Conclusions

A deep understanding of the lifestyle and needs of the target audience accelerates the promotion of a new business and increases sales, reduces marketing and advertising costs, and improves goods or services. The audience portrait is the foundation of the marketing strategy, helping to approach customers with various needs.

Key characteristics to specify when creating a target audience portrait are age, gender, region of residence, income level, interests, problems. Other parameters depend on the direction of the business, although gender or region may not always play a role. Conduct surveys and interviews, analyze comments and consumer profiles on social networks, collect information through surveys. All these contribute to better

Oksana Korsun
Editor in Marketing Link

Get a consultation