Regardless of how excited you are about your business idea, if there are not any customers looking to buy your product or pay for your services then you are going to have a tough time. Now that you have Discovered your passions and Defined your idea it is time to Describe your ideal customer. While you might not turn down someone’s business, what you will do is focus your marketing message and decisions on this specific customer.

First you need to make sure that there are people out there looking for what you have to offer. Market research is what you do to see if you are on the right track. If your business is local, you might already have a good idea if that market exists. Even if you think you have a good handle on it, market research will confirm what you know. It might also lead you to new insights and possibilities.

Basic Marketing Research Tips

There are a variety of ways to get this information. Some will be more “gut instincts” where others will be data driven. Both have value and should be considered. Most important, try to get a good cross-section of input to validate your idea. Start with the end in mind. Make sure you know what you are asking the questions in the right way so the information will be most beneficial.

Here are some ways you can begin:

• Ask friends and family what they think about your idea. Is this a product or service they would use?
• Contact your Chamber of Commerce or City Hall to see if there are people asking for this kind of product or service? If you are not familiar with the area, ask if there has been a similar business in the past?
• If there are competitors for your business, see who they are serving. Check out their social media, their physical location, the website- even call them. What are people saying about them? Do their customers seem like your customers or do you see a different niche or problem you could solve?
• Small Business Administration, Small Business Development Center and SCORE offer a wealth of information. They can help you with fine-tuning your concept and validating the need for your business.
• Google is an absolute go-to for market research. You can also search keywords to see how many people are looking for what you do online.

What is Mind-Mapping?

There are a variety of answers to this, but for this exercise we are going to use it to help you take all those adjectives and descriptions that you think of when you envision your ideal customer and narrow it down for clarity. Here are some things to consider:

• Are they male or female?
• What do they like to do in their spare time?
• How old are they?
• What kind of education do they have?
• Are they married?
• Do they have children?
• What kind of work do they do?
• How much money do they make?
• Where do they hang out on social media platforms?
• What are they things that bring them pleasure?
• What are the biggest problems they are facing?

As you can see, there are all sorts of descriptions you could use to create a picture of your ideal customer. Some of these will apply to your business and others will come to mind when you think about who you would like to see walk through the door of your business.

Creating a Mind-Map can be fun and informing. There are a number of ways you can approach it. You can use anything from a pen and paper where you just jot down everything that comes to mind to a Word doc where you do the same thing. My favorite is to grab a bunch of Post-Its and let my mind run wild. A mind-map worksheet is available here if you would like to start there.

Once you have exhausted every adjective and description you can think of you can begin to see trends and patterns. Use these to help you sharpen your focus. Some people even give this person a name. Their picture of their ideal client is so clear they are almost real. In the end, this becomes your buyer persona.

How a Buyer Persona Can Help Your Business

We touched on it before, but the truth is that when you know who your ideal customer is your job of reaching them will be so much easier and a lot less work. A buyer persona is really the result of all the time you spent on the Mind-Mapping exercise. The more you know about them, the more you will know what kind of products and services to offer. How should you price them? Where will you need to go to reach them with your message? The buyer persona becomes the embodiment of your target market.

You will also begin to get an intimate picture of what brings them pleasure and what pain points or needs they have. Where your products and/or services intersect with their pain or pleasure points is the sweet spot that spells success for your business.

When Your Ideal Customer Changes

One final thought: you might find that as time passes, your ideal customer might change. Changes to your ideal customer can be due to a number of reasons:

• Economic changes
• Product availability or changes in trends and popularity
• Waning sales

It might also be that your business is growing, and you see new revenue opportunities. This is exciting and keeps your business fresh and vibrant. If you see an opportunity to reach a new client, you repeat the steps you did to find your first ideal customer. You test your hypothesis along the way to validate the idea. You take the time to beta test and make sure you are on the right path. This might turn out to be a secondary revenue stream or it might take the lead in your revenue.

In the end, the best tip is to constantly be listening to your customers to make sure you are offering what they want and staying in touch with opportunities to grow your business.

Next we dive into the actual details as we DEVELOP Your Plan.

If you missed the first 2 Steps in this series check them out here:

Step 1 Discover Your Strengths and Passions

Step 2 Define Your Idea