Customer Demographics?

[Jusbytheclown]

How do you describe your customer demographics?

Who hires clowns? What do we know? What do we want to know? How do we know when we've found out? What will we do with this info?

And none of this "I don't pay any attention to that..."

Is clowning a serious business?

HELP! I'm redrafting my business plan this week and I need some facts in it.

[Fifi D. Clown]

Events that I am hired for include:

• Children's birthdays
• Companies for annual picnics or holiday parties
• Stores for special events
• Restaurants for walk-around balloons, magic
• Festivals, fairs, carnivals
• Any community event that wants families to come
• Balloon delivery with comedy magic
• Any kid-friendly celebration
• Schools (I don't do big school shows because I have a day-time job, but will do after school workshops for kids who want to learn balloon animals or other clowny things

The people who do the hiring are the parents or other relatives, event organizers, secretaries, managers, PTO members, or whoever got stuck with the job of finding the entertainment.
Our church also has a clown ministry, which I am part of (no charge of course) and I have done some free clowning at the senior citizens home.

[Jusbytheclown]

Are they mostly men or mostly women?
Are they mostly under 50 or over 20?
Are they mostly earning under 70K or over 30K?
Do they own (with or w/o mortgage), rent, lease?
Are they Republican, Democrat, Independent, apolitical?

These, and other questions, lead us to market strategically.

What would it take to find out more?

Here's how I visualized my target customers:
My target customers are married women, over 40, with a 6 year old son, an 11 year old daughter, and an infant. Their families combined income is over $45,000. Their home costs over $200,000, and their monthly mortgage payment is over $3,000. They own two cars. The newer one is a hybrid. The older one is a truck, van or SUV. They own seven bicycles. (One is a tricycle, two others still have the training wheels on.) They have additional vehicles that may classify as sporting goods: sail boards, canoes, ATVs, jet skis or snow mobiles. They have already gone to Disney Land AND Disney World. They own over 200 DVDs and 100 feature length movies they keep in a digital format (some are repeats of their DVDs). They have a high-speed internet connection.

The problem? It's not based on tangible research.

[Fifi D. Clown]

Wow, you know more about your customers than I ever even began to think about! About the only thing my customers have in common is they all had noses. And, they are probably about 75% women who call.

I've done birthday parties for welfare families and huge bashes for the biggest corporation in town. Politics have never entered into it.

Why do you want to limit yourself? And why won't intangible research do?

If you want to do parties for just certain types of people, see if you can put flyers in some of the stores of the neighborhoods you'd like to work. Once you've done one or two parties in that neighborhood, if you've done a good job word will get around and all the kids will want you.

I know I'm not much help, but I live in a relatively small town and enjoy new challenges, so I market myself to everyone.

[Jolly Well]

I've never thought that much about my entertainment, and can't see how some of the questions could be answered without being overly instrusive. I certainly wouldn't answer income questions on a survey handed to me by a clown or magician; and wouldn't expect my customers to do it either.

I'm assuming I'm missing something with this thread. Elaborate a bit?


and out of personal curiosity...

How in the world can a couple with 2 kids who only make $45k combined annually afford Disneyland, a new Hybrid Vehicle, 7 bicycles (unless one of these are the hybrid!), and recreation vehicles - all the while paying out $36k annually on mortgage alone?

Then again, it's late and work-days have been long this week getting ready my school, Chasity's school, and teaching school! So I could easily be looking at this entirely askew! If that is the case - disregard this post until my alarm clock goes off and I get some coffee in me...

[Jusbytheclown]

okay... here's my dilemma... I pulled the numbers out of a hat, and that won't fly with the bank guy who reviews the business plans.

no, I'm not currently fishing for a loan... basically the thing has been running on a shoe string and it just needs to run a little faster.

however, if I am EVER to jump out of the rat race and clown professionally I need a plan based on facts.

so, let me address your concerns.
1) 4 of the family members can ride bikes. dad has two (racing and mtn bike). mom has one. daughter has two (outgrew one). son has two (outgrew one). these have been purchased gradually over the years.
2) ATVs and sport vehicles also purchased gradually over the years
3) Disney was not this year
4) I didn't do the math on the mortgage vs. income... you got me. they must earn a lot more than that.

What we need to know is not our customers Gross Income, but their Net Income... and how that translates into Disposable (Hiring Clowns) Income.

And in fact we don't need to know all of that either.
Nor do we have to ask invasive questions. I certainly agree that I don't give out that info to just anyone.
However, with a satisfied customer you can ask gentle questions that help you find MORE satisfied customers.
I.E. what magazines do you read? what radio stations do you listen to? what restaurants do you eat at? what other events do you think would be appropriate for a clown?

I think it hurts me more to leave an event without getting some data than it does to ask for it.
How many times do you drive off thinking "that was awful" or "that was fantastic, they loved me" without some way to verify it?

I REALLY REALLY REALLY want help from a business savvy clown to guide my research!

[Lolly Plop]

Go to library or bookstore and get a copy of a book on how to write a business plan for small business's. You should find details on how to get the info you're looking for.

[Scruffy]

Don't ask me to explain this but we have seven bikes......
One for each boy, (Three) two runt bikes and one that one had outgrown, plus mom's bike.

Sorry, I clown at my own parties.....

[Sonshine D Clown]

Originally Posted by Jusbytheclown

Are they mostly men or mostly women?
Are they mostly under 50 or over 20?
Are they mostly earning under 70K or over 30K?
Do they own (with or w/o mortgage), rent, lease?
Are they Republican, Democrat, Independent, apolitical?

These, and other questions, lead us to market strategically.

What would it take to find out more?

Here's how I visualized my target customers:
My target customers are married women, over 40, with a 6 year old son, an 11 year old daughter, and an infant. Their families combined income is over $45,000. Their home costs over $200,000, and their monthly mortgage payment is over $3,000. They own two cars. The newer one is a hybrid. The older one is a truck, van or SUV. They own seven bicycles. (One is a tricycle, two others still have the training wheels on.) They have additional vehicles that may classify as sporting goods: sail boards, canoes, ATVs, jet skis or snow mobiles. They have already gone to Disney Land AND Disney World. They own over 200 DVDs and 100 feature length movies they keep in a digital format (some are repeats of their DVDs). They have a high-speed internet connection.

The problem? It's not based on tangible research.

.... Can I have all the rest?? *S*

[Artsy]

I suggest that you try to come up with alternative ways of adding seed corn to your dream job. I used to work at a bank and let me tell ya, a business plan for money to boost a clown enterprise is not going to go over very well, unless you are already established and have your own television show.

When I need something (money or something I want to buy) I have always found a creative way to accomplish my objectives. In fact, the end result is far better than my initial intentions.

HERE's AN IDEA (and I just might use it for myself too)

Why not have a clown marathon where you do something clowny for as long as you can to earn income? Take the same procedures as others do for walk-a-thons but do a clown-a-thon. Proceeds benefit ________________(your goals here)_______.

I think the newspaper would love to print a feature story about this unique way to build your business. It is certainly newsworthy during this shaky economy. The paper is always mentioning alternatives for our energy crunch, why not alternatives for a clown's family too? (Read Pickles' article about free advertising for more light bulb ideas)

Maybe if you were more specific in your post to exactly what your goals are, we could help you figure out creative ways to reach them.