Are you collecting customer details, statistics and feedback? Remember, the better you know your customers, the easier it is to reach them and meet their needs. Your research should include age, gender, relationship status, location and level of education/employment as a minimum. I also recommend investigating what motivates your customers and finding out what else they do with their time and money. Don’t make assumptions, talk to your customers, ask them why they do business with you. Clarity about your target market will save you time and money.
When you’re looking at age, you should also take a look at generation profiling i.e. Baby Boomers, Gen-X and Gen-Y/Millenials. Each generation has distinct characteristics. Understanding the typical behaviours and preferences of your target market will give you insight into how to sell and delivery your product or service.
For example, Gen-Y/Millenials are beginning to have a significant impact in the marketplace. They are the world’s first global generation and the most educated, entertained, materially endowed, and entrepreneurial (yet supported and protected) generation in history.
Between 16 and 36 years, Gen-Ys are the generation of choice – they like to have options. The top three things they want in a job are positive relationships with colleagues, interesting work and continuous opportunities for learning. They are highly transient, community/socially driven and influenced by peers. They have high disposable income (pre-family – no financial commitments) and their top three leisure activities are: to party, listen to radio or go to a movie. They communicate mainly through SMS (text message) and web (online). (Source: Qld Tourism Industry Council)