Who’s Your Target?

Like fish without water, darkness without light, and yin without yang, your business is nowhere without a customer.

For this reason, every business owner should know their target customer. Who are they? What do they like? What do they want to hear from you? Knowing these answers helps you market your service or product effectively.

If you’re not sure who you’re serving, you might be serving no one.

In business, four fundamentals (Operations, Brand, Finance and Customer) come together as even pillars, propping you up to a higher chance of success. However, without an equal focus on each aspect, your business remains lopsided and easy to crumble. 

So, who are your ideal customers? You’ve heard the advice of finding target markets and going after them, but how do you go about that? And more importantly, what makes one customer different from another?

Here’s what to consider when defining your target customer-

✔️  Demographics- age, gender, ethnicity, employment status etc.
✔️  Purchasing Behaviours
✔️  Types of media frequently engaged (not only social media)
✔️  Shopping Locations- Where do they shop for brands like yours?
✔️  Brand interests- are they interested in a brand like yours?
✔️  What pain points can you solve?
✔️  Who are your competitors?

That said, whether in attempts to avoid appearing stereotypical or exclusive, many business owners often find it difficult specifying their demographics. Others rather cast a wide net and serve to anyone who’s willing to buy. This is a recipe for short-term thinking which in most cases leads to burn out.

When you’re specific with your audience, your energy is focused on persons interested in your brand rather than those who need convincing and extra sweet talk. Like most functional relationships the seller-buyer dynamic relies on an understood mutual interest. Chasing anyone uninterested typically lands you in disappointment.

Repeat after me; “I don’t chase, I attract.” Figure out exactly who is truly interested in your business and you will witness greater success.

Let’s look at PlantQue. If we adopted the throw-against-wall-and-see-what-sticks method, we’re more likely to attract green thumbs looking for a bargain or even agricultural farmers, with neither interested in our stand-out offerings. Our resources would better serve a target customer who is more likely to make regular purchases.

You get the drift? When you define your target customer you benefit through:

✔️  Focused marketing activities
✔️  Access to a specific niche audience
✔️  Tapping in and developing a community for your brand
✔️  Strategic business decisions

Above all, the key takeaway from this blog is that businesses need to understand who their customer is and what they want. Target customers are consistently profitable, even loyal when you commit to strengthening your customer relationships. 

Is the customer always right? It depends, is it the target customer?