This is a marketing activity. You need to know who you want to serve with your product.
The audience for your product exist within a community. They have a problem and they need a solution. They are willing to pay money for that solution.
Think of a set of concentric circles.
In the center are your satisfied customers who buy from you again and again.
Outside of that are your one-time customers who buy one thing and don’t come back for more. You might be able to do things to get more of them to become repeat customers.
Outside of that are people who have the problem that you’re solving and are willing to pay money for it but chose not to buy your product — they chose another product. You might be able to get them to buy yours next time.
Outside of that are people who have the problem you’re solving but are not ready to spend any money on it. You might be able to persuade them to buy your product in the future.
Outside of that are people in the same community who don’t have the problem you’re solving. These people will not be your customers and it would be unethical to try and sell something to them that they don’t need.
Outside of that are people who are not even in the same community — the rest of the world. They also will not be your customers unless or until you create another product that solves a problem they have.
You want to build your business the inside out — figure out who are the people who will be your repeat customers and make that your audience. Then work your way outward through these circles. Each audience is a little different so you’ll need to repeat the process for each one.
But to get started and figure out who that audience is, you need to start in the outer circles and work your way inward to hone in and sharpen your vision of your ideal customer.
The following tasks are related to identifying and connecting with the audience for your business:
Identify the community. Who will you be serving?
Identify what the community needs. What problems do they have?
Identify the market. The combination of a community and a problem for which they would pay money to solve.
Write your solution statement. Ironically, a “solution statement” describes the problem and the desired end-state after solving it, not the solution itself.
Market research. Find how much they are willing to pay, what the size of the market is, what solutions already exist, and who the competitors are.
Ideal customer profile. Figure out who would find your products to be a perfect fit for their needs, and that would be receptive to your marketing and sales efforts and be able and willing to buy from you.
Identify the target audience. Figure out who you need to reach with your marketing efforts.
Connect with the target audience. Talk with people in the target audience to validate the market research including the needs and problems, willingness to pay.
Compass
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