Defining your ideal client group

As a new business owner, one of the impetuses for starting your business should be who you are going to serve i.e. the market segment or client group that will buy and use your products or services. 

To help to define your ideal client group or customer avatar, you should be able to say with certainly what the features, attributes and benefits of the product/service that you offer are and determine how its use would benefit the particular group.

Having a well-defined client group is very important to a startup company as it saves the business from wasting resources.  Defining your target market does not mean excluding those who do not fall specifically in your group, it however helps you to determine exactly where your marketing budget will be spent and on whom.

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Clients basically come from one of two groups: consumers and business.  If it is a consumer product, you should consider more specific demographic information such as age, location, gender, interests, income level and occupation.  To take it a step further, you may also consider if there are variations i.e. niche segments of that specific market that you can successfully serve. 

If your product is geared towards the business group, then your approach must be different.    The size of the market and the scale of production is critical to how you decide to approach the business client.  Consider who else is providing the product or service i.e. your competition, determine if your business can provide the product or service at a cheaper cost to the client and most importantly; is that client is open to considering new suppliers? 

Other considerations in defining your client group includes finding out the sources from which the potential clients get information and the type of content that works best.

In today’s inclusive world, there are multiple sources of information.  Although media is generally divided into traditional and non-traditional formats, online and digital media plays a pivotal role in the dissemination of information.    In defining your client group, you should know what media they use to get information – is it mobile, radio only, from social media or television?  This helps to determine the ‘set-up’ of your advertising programme and where the marketing dollars are spent.  It also ensures that little or no money is wasted.

The type of content that you provide is also helpful in defining your market.  Is your audience a reading audience or do they just want a graphic or video that goes straight to the point.

The best conclusion to defining your client group however, is the ability to put a face to your ideal client.