Essay

Your target market isn't demographic

Jason Cohen · A Smart Bear Free Intermediate

This piece attacks the exact mistake domain experts make: describing a market by job title or industry instead of by the situation that creates urgent pain. It gives you language to replace 'anyone in my industry' with the specific circumstance that actually predicts who will buy.

  • Demographics and job titles are weak predictors of who buys; situation and pain are strong predictors
  • Interview customers to find the trigger event that made them go looking for a solution
  • Two people with the same job title can be completely different customers
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The question it answers

  1. How do I define my ideal customer when I'm a domain expert who thinks everyone in my industry needs this?

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