You Are Not (Always) Your Customer

Here's an interesting set of statistics from my industry (printing) that illustrate an important truth in marketing. The demographic of most printers in the United States is white male, over 45. By contrast, the demographic of most print-buyers is female, under 40.

As with all statistics, these demographics may not be true in all cases or for any one individual person, but they illustrate an important fact: You are not (always) your customer. So stop for a second and look at two things:

1. Who buys from you? Take a look at your customer base. Do they trend toward a specific demographic? Young, urban males, with disposable income? Older, suburban males or females, with school-aged children? Seniors? Find out what kinds of consumers use your products or services, and who you should be targeting.

2. Who is your current marketing targeted to? Now, take a look at your marketing materials. Who are they geared toward? Are you targeting the righ t demographic for the products and services you provide? Or are you targeting yourself or some notion of an ideal demographic that might not actually jibe with reality?

If you want to sell more widgets, gizmos, whatchamacallits, or whatever it is you sell, make sure you're targeting the right consumers. Not necessarily yourself.

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