In my post entitled Marketing as Strategy, I talked about the value of thinking about marketing instead of strategy because marketing is always customer focused. As I said:
“…everything in marketing revolves around “the group of consumers or organizations that is interested in the product” as opposed to strategy which can be self-focused.”
I want to help you further along this path today and discuss something about the first step in marketing: customer research. Specifically, the who in “who is the potential customer, what do they want and where are they?”
Two Customers
As you start to think about who your potential customers could be, you will quickly become confused. You’ll become confused because you’ll realize that there are many different customers for what you create. And the more you think about it, the more confused you’ll get.
In order to simplify this process, consider these two broad categories, or “buckets” of customers:
- End User – the people who like and “consume” your music, but don’t pay you directly. For instance, when you’re hired to play in a club on Friday Night, the people in the club are “end users.”
- Target Customer – these are the people and/or organizations that will actually pay you. In the example of the club full of end users, the club is a target customer.
Why are they called target customers? Because that’s where you should focus your attention.
End Users
I’m not saying end users aren’t important, they are. The club will NEVER hire you unless fans come to watch. The label will NEVER sign you to a contract unless fans buy what you have now. And the band will NEVER use your song unless they know their fans (their end users) will dig it too.
But recognize that you will also NEVER make a living and build a successful career by focusing on end users for one simple fact: they don’t pay you.
Target Customers
Two steps:
- Understand the differences between your end users and target customers. Yes, you have to serve both of them well, but not in the same ways.
- Target your target customers in everything you do. How? Think about their target customers.
If you can help your target customers target THEIR customers, you’ll never run out of work.
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