The most important aspect of any business is understanding who your customer is. The relationship you have with your customer is the lifeblood of your business. However in order to be successful, you need to identify who your customer is. A critical mistake businesses make is that they try to appeal to everyone. While this might seem like a good idea to extend your potential reach and increase the amount of customers you will have, this strategy typically means your product will lack the focus to attract a more dedicated consumer base.
That is why before you begin your business you need to understand and figure out who you are selling to. For example, are you planning on selling to average consumers? Or perhaps you want to sell your services to other businesses? Both of these groups have different needs and wants from the other, thus figuring out which group you want to sell to is important.
For example, the needs of a business are not the same as an individual. A business might need large scale services for multiple people or a service a conventional customer might have no need for. Where as the needs of an individual might not be able to fit the needs of a business. Individuals might purchase based on “wants” over needs, so you need to identify why someone would buy a product by understanding their wants. By identifying who you want to sell to, you create a means of streamlining the process of identifying who your customers are.
Within these two groups, numerous sub groups exist within them. It is from these groups that you will find the identity of your customers and your product.
If you have a product in mind, look at these subgroups and think about what your product aims to achieve for these people. Think about who would benefit the most from using your product or service, and think about why they should use it. By identifying these qualities, you will be able to understand what your customer looks like, and what they want.
If you are looking into developing a product, you can use the same principles to discover a product. Think about a problem or desire customers could face. What would provide a solution for this problem? How common is the problem? Can you create a novel solution for it? By imagining a potential customer group, you can synthesize the idea of a business or a product.
Understanding and identifying customers is the most important step when it comes to developing a product or business. By identifying who you want to sell to and by focusing on them, you will be able to focus your marketing efforts on targeting them and increasing your sales.
