Picture the average customer of your product or service: how old is he/she? What does he/she do on the weekends? Where does he/she work? If you can’t answer these questions, you probably don’t know who your customer is.

I recently started a blog called Twenty Set which is about personal and professional development for the millennial generation. In truth, I’m not actually writing for all the people in my generation, and on my About page I say exactly who my “customer” (in this case reader) is. Here’s the first paragraph:

“Twenty Set is for people in their twenties who are interested in living their own definitions of successful and fulfilling lives. The Twenty Set is the set of people between the ages of 20 and 29 who want to become their best selves. Members of the Twenty Set are unique and intelligent go-getters who enjoy learning, discussion, ideas, and self-improvement.” (Shameless plug: If this describes you, why not subscribe to my feed?)

As you can see from this description, I’m targeting a small segment of my generation with a technique called customer profiling. Customer profiles are by nature stereotypical descriptions. They don’t apply to every customer, but rather give an idea of who a target customer might be.

Benefits of Customer Profiling

• Better targeted ad campaigns
• Better targeted future products and/or services
• Learning who your best customers are - they are the ones you should work hardest to sell to

Creating a Customer Profile For Your Product or Service

It’s easy to write a customer profile - it’s merely a description of your business’ typical customer. Consider:

• Age
• Sex
• Location (this can be urban, suburban, or rural, or a geographic location)
• Income or Income Range
• Industry
• Characteristics and Traits
• Hobbies
• Lifestyle Factors (marriage, children, etc)
• Other demographics relevant for your business

Customer Profiling for Major Companies

All major companies can profile their customers well - you can tell by looking at the ad campaigns. To see this in action, take my quiz about customer profiles for major beer products. Match up each of the following descriptions with one of these five beers: Budweiser, Amstel Light, Guinness, Pabst Blue Ribbon, or Michelob Ultra. Leave your guesses in the comments section and I’ll post the answers in a few days. (Disclaimer: The following are not actual company profiles - I made them up based on ads and other marketing data I found.)

1. Single, possibly homosexual professional woman who works downtown in an urban area. She orders this drink when dining out with girlfriends.

2. Young college guy interested in drinking large amounts of beer at once. He chooses a pack of this drink for a boating or camping trip with his brothers.

3. Older businessman who chooses this drink for watching football on the weekends. Very easygoing and likes the outdoors and comedy movies.

4. Athletic, in-shape twentysomething female who watches her weight. She drinks this at sporting events with her boyfriend and friends.

5. Middle class alternative, liberal guy who prides himself on his own good taste for authenticity. Shops at FCUK and likes classic rock and roll. He orders this drink at a bar.

Like I said, I completely made these customer profiles up - though I doubt any are too far off from the actual. Good luck!