Are Your Friends Your (Real) Customers?
A post over at Vario, 5 Quick Small Business Tips, jogged my memory. (Thanks, Mark!)
A local biz owner did a radio ad last holiday season, in which her (admittedly) adorable children participated. However, her business has nothing to do even remotely with: a. cute; b. children. So, I have to wonder – did the radio spots generate any business? Sure, her friends all commented how “cute” and “fun” the ads were, but none of them are her target market. And, how many listeners – even (especially) in prime “drive time” were able to focus on anything other than the usual holiday hysteria?
Which leads me to a key entrepreneur sanity checkpoint: Your friends and family love you and your idea/product/service but:
a. Will they buy it?
b. Will they buy it more than once?
c. Do they fit your target market profile? (1)
So, don’t get lost in a haze of positive reinforcement and support. (Your bank doesn’t take “good thoughts” as mortgage payments.) The real world is out there, and none of those people know you, much less love you (yet). Yes, you hope that eventually your customers will consider themselves your friends, but that takes work and time.
(1) And, your real, barn-burning, profit-generating target may not be what you/your co-founders/your investors first think (or would like to think.)
Related Posts:
Our Target: The Stupid People
Hitting The Target
Advertising Does Nothing For Your Brand
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Tags: target marketing, business planning, business development, marketing, marketing troubleshooting, entrepreneur sanity check
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It’s also important not to get discouraged if your family or friends don’t like your product, ESPECIALLY if they’re not your target market.
When I first began making quilted covers for mortuary cots, I faced a lot of resistance from family and friends who – a) didn’t know what they were and b) didn’t know why anyone would need them.
Luckily, my market is EXCLUSIVELY the funeral industry, a group of people who know what cot covers are and can immediately grasp why one made from a quilt might be more attractive and pleasant for a client family.
So now when I hear “you actually make a living with those things?” from a disbelieving family member, I shake it off.
Good point, Timothy.
The “you make money with those things?’ is the negative aspect of using friends and family as a sanity checkpoint.
Personally, my family is the last place I look for sanity!
I’ve got a friend who fancies himself an inventor. He’s always running ideas by me, and I tell him what I think – but I’m (generally) careful to say “but I’m not someone you would market that to.” Then I encourage him to do real market research. Your sanity check points are right on the money for him.
Thanks for the link!
Mark