This is hard to write about, and hard for business owners to accept. It seems so negative. Still, it seems like we all need a fresh reminder. Famous American stand-up comedian, actor, and author Bill Cosby said it well: “I don’t know the secret to success, but I do know that the secret to failure is trying to please everybody.” We need to know both who is our customer and who isn’t before positioning our marketing efforts.  Marketing is vague and scary activity but that is only until we don’t have clarity on whom to market! Once you exactly know who is your customer on paper (yes, I said on paper – you gotta grab a pen and a paper) your marketing efforts becomes a fun activity & 1000% effective. By end of this blog you will have immense clarity in order to market your business. In this blog, I will help you walk you through define your target audience. You need customers. The first thing you need to start a business, maybe even the only thing you really need, is customers. It all starts with at least one customer. Who is your target customer. When asked who is your customer, the usual answer is often that they serve many customers. This includes internal and external customers, distributors, buyers, influencers, employees, and so on. Calling them all “customers” is common and even acceptable. But it perpetuates a myth that misleads. They are not all customers in the true sense of the word. Companies are making a mistake when they give all these constituents an equal or greater priority than they give their primary customer. This leads to focusing time and energy in the wrong places, inhibiting a company’s ability to create value and grow. When deciding who is the customer, the focus should always be on the people using the product. In detail. Not just generalities but who is this person, what drives her, what does she really want from you, what does she like to read, eat, watch? Where does he live, and with whom? What does he drive? 3. Who isn’t your customer. Sometimes the secret to success is who isn’t your customer. Let’s take an example of Facebook.  How does Facebook earns? It’s a myth to some people. Facebook recently announced they crossed a billion users.  But these users are truly Facebook’s customers? yes? No, there is no shame. There was a time I also believed... Read more »

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