Menu

  • Home
  • Stories
  • Gallery
  • Crafts magazine
  • What's on
  • Directory
    • Overview
    • Supporting craft businesses
    • Join the directory
    • Opportunities
    • Craft business resources
    • Craft business booster sessions
    • Crafting Business programme for makers
    • Overview
    • Make First
    • Education
    • Families
    • Participation
    • Craft learning resources
    • Craft careers
    • Craft School: Yinka’s Challenge
    • Young Craft Citizens
    • Overview
    • About the collections
    • How to hire and borrow
    • Exhibitions
    • Curatorial fellowship
  • Collect art fair
    • Overview
    • Our work
    • Our team
    • Governance
    • History
    • Research and policy
    • Diversity and inclusion
    • Working here
    • Contact us
    • Craft UK
    • Press
    • Overview
    • Appeals and projects
    • Patrons
    • A gift in your will
    • Corporate partnerships
    • Our supporters and partners

Quick Links

  • Subscribe
  • Opportunities
  • Crafts Council at 50
Home
Login
Crafts CouncilBusiness SkillsCraft business resources

How to build customer profiles


In Partnership With

The Design Trust’s Patricia van der Akker discusses the benefits of identifying your ideal clients to help strengthen your marketing efforts


In Partnership With

  • Craft business
  • Resources

By creating a set of customer profiles you can target your activity towards the right people at the right time, on the right channel. Watch the talk recording to find out how you can build upon your existing consumer knowledge with focussed research and tools such as the Crafts Council’s Market for Craft data tool.


Video: Patricia van der Akker from The Design Trust shares guidance on creating customer profiles

We have summarised Patricia's key advice on identifying and creating customer profiles for your craft business.

Why create customer profiles?

Developing a deep understanding of your target client groups and their needs saves you time, money and energy. By offering goods and services that your clients actually want, you have a higher chance of attracting sales. This knowledge means you can be more specific and targeted with your marketing efforts. Be sure to use your authentic voice as this gains better results than trying to be all things to everyone.

What are customer profiles?

Customer profiles create a more accurate picture of who your ideal clients are. Key information such as their demographics, location, lifestyles, design tastes, and publications they read, allow you to build a list of key places where you could place your promotion efforts. You can also consider what their values are, for instance, is buying organic important to them? Or are they more interested in a specific aesthetic style over material considerations? This concept is like unpeeling an onion, layer by layer to reveal a client biography.

Who are your clients?

It is key to establish if you want to sell B2C (i.e direct to consumers) or B2B (i.e direct to businesses such as retail shops and galleries). These two client groups can seem similar in their style and values, but the key difference is their motivation. Ask yourself, 'why do they wish to buy from me?’. A trade client may be looking for product to compliment their store whilst an individual may be shopping for a gift. It is also easier to find trade clients over private individuals. They are listed publicly on websites, have their own social media accounts and you may be able to visit their physical location.

What are you selling?

You must also consider what you are selling. Products, commissions, services and experiences may all attract a different audience, sometimes with crossover. Perhaps you have loyal seasonal clients, who tend to place a large order with you in one go at a particular time of year or more casual customers who like to browse before making a single purchase.

Key takeaways
Creative work is often bought for very personal reasons and your clients are often a reflection of who you are. The clearer you are on who you are and what you offer, the clearer people will understand how this reflects their interests and values.

Have confidence in what you do, this will give your clients confidence in buying what you are offering.

‘Clients are inspirational! Insights and empathy will help you create better, more innovative, more relevant work. This equals more like to buy which equals less wasted stock and energy’


Patricia van der Akker

About Patricia van der Akker:

Patricia van den Akker is the Director of The Design Trust, the online business school for designers, makers & other creative professionals. For over 20 years she has been a creative business adviser, trainer and coach, working with 1,000s of creatives, especially designer-makers.

Known for her practical and can-do approach, Patricia regularly teaches and writes around a wide range of creative business development topics – from business planning and time management to income streams, and marketing supporting graduates from the Royal College of Arts and Central St Martins and to well-established professional makers.

For 5 years she also wrote the Design Doctor column for Crafts Magazine.

Visit the The Design Trust website

Follow @TheDesignTrust on Instagram


  • Our guest speaker Patricia van der Akker, director of The Design Trust

Spring-back talks

This presentation was part of the Spring-back talks programme. A series of ten free lunchtime talks held on Zoom, offering essential marketing advice for makers who want to prepare their business for digital and physical opportunities in 2021 and beyond.

View a full list of upcoming talks and recordings on our Business Skills page.

If you require an alternative format to the information provided, please email makerdev@craftscouncil.org.uk

Try our free data research tool

The Market for Craft data tool is an open-access dashboard available online at no cost to independent makers, studios and collectives, shops and galleries, and curious consumers. Using the data tool’s tabs and filters, you can gain a detailed insight into your customer demographics, behaviours, motivations, and barriers — helping inform business strategies for 2021 and beyond.

Market for Craft Data Tool

Useful resources

Market for Craft report
Research and Policy

Share

  • Facebook 
  • Twitter 
  • Whatsapp 
  • Email 
  • Pinterest 
  • ...

Read more

  • Craft business resources

    How to write a business plan

    • Craft business
    • Resources
  • Craft business resources

    Sell and showcase your work overseas

    • Craft business
    • Resources
  • Craft business resources

    How to present ideas to a client

    • Craft business
    • Resources

Stay informed and inspired

Select an option to receive a newsletter

Follow us

  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Pinterest

Crafts Council
44a Pentonville Road
London N1 9BY

hello@craftscouncil.org.uk
+44 (0)20 7806 2500

Reg. charity no. 280956

  • Our work
  • Our team
  • Privacy policy