Strong Market Research Targets Best Customers

As the internet continues to grow, there are more and more places for online users to gather, and, simultaneously, smaller and smaller (microniche) communities are forming- which represents both and opportunity and a challenge for businesses marketing online.

The opportunity is that these microniched communities can offer you more direct and connected access to ideal clients. If you can find a group of ideal clients online, market to them appropriately, you will find it easier to make sales.

The challenge is that these microniched communities can be difficult to locate, and that you must make an investment in regular and consistent market research to be certain that your marketing is reaching those people you wish to serve.

The Mindshare Method ^(sm) system utilizes a custom-developed process of market research, and begins with constructing a customer DPT profile.

The customer DPT profile consists of defining customer demographics, psychographics, and technographics.

Customer demographics consist of client traits which are observable and objectively measurable. Common customer demographics include factors such as income level, educational attainment, zip code or state of residence, profession, number of children, how many times married, and so on.

Customer psychographics consist of internal client traits which are not always externally observable or measurable. Customer psychographics would include factors such as social class, values, behaviors, opinions and lifestyle. These elements may not be immediately obvious, but, when researched fully, offer an extremely rich method for understanding how your ideal customers think, feel, and make decisions. When you understand these areas, you can rapidly create influence within your chosen market.

Customer technographics is a more recent addition to the market segmentation process. Technographics is a process developed by Forrester Research, and reflects a measurement of how involved users are with social technologies. The technographics profile divides online users as belonging to one of six categories: creators, critics, collectors, joiners, spectators, and inactives.

Creators make up about 13% of internet users and these people are actively creating information online. They are likely to have a web site, publish a blog, and to make regular contributions to online communities.

Critics make up about 19% of internet users. These people are actively rating and reviewing information, and tend to leave comments on blogs.

Collectors make up about 15% of internet users, and these people tend to gather data and information from the web. They will subscribe to multiple RSS feeds and help categorize the web using tags.

Joiners come in at about 19% of internet users, and tend to be active on social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn.

Spectators make up the large majority of internet users, at 33%, and these people tend to consume data and information, but do not create or critique.

Finally, Inactives make up about 52% of users, and these people do not use social technologies.

The Technographics factor in the DPT profile can guide your understanding of how best to reach your target audience. If, for example, your audience is comprised of a lot of critics, you will activate them more easily if you give them opportunities to rate and review your content. If your audience is comprised of creators, you will connect with them more readily if you give them opportunities to create content with you.

Once you have constructed your Customer DPT, the next step is to locate these people online. Using sites like Quantcast.com, Compete.com and services like Google Analytics, you can find exactly which online sites cater to your target market.

While market research can be time consuming, it is a necessary precursor to effective marketing. Time spent constructing your customer DPT will save you money in the future.

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About the Author:

Dr. Rachna Jain is a psychologist by training and developer of The Mindshare Method, a social media strategy for global influence. Learn more about the future of social media at http://www.MindshareCorp.com