Can you describe your customer in detail? Most businesses can’t. I used to sell websites (when I owned a digital marketing agency), and in the early years, my customer was “someone who needs a website.” The problem with this approach is the spectrum it covers. “Someone who needs a website” might include my mom or Home Depot (I’ve never built a site for either).

It’s best to be very specific because by being specific about who your customer is, you can better adapt your product or service to meet their specific needs. For example, I now do marketing consulting and fractional CMO work. Below is my quick customer outline:

• The founder, owner, or CEO of a company between $2M and $20M in revenue
• Their main pain points are:
  • Time – they need to spend time on things other than marketing
  • Marketing experience – they haven’t done marketing before at an advanced level
  • Resource management – they don’t have the time to manage the internal marketing staff or external contractors and agencies
• The leader also wants a marketing approach that is simple, measurable, and effective

Knowing all that allows me to get very specific with my services, meet their needs more directly, and do a better job in the process.

With that in mind, who is your customer?