7 Steps to Choose Your Target Customer Before Spending on Marketing

Get clear about whom you serve, what they need, and how to test your assumptions before spending more.

Before buying ads or printing promotional materials, answer one question:

Who is most likely to need—and pay for—what you offer?

“Everyone” gives you little direction. A specific customer group gives you a starting point for deciding what to offer, whom to contact, and which opportunities to pursue.

You need a group you can reach, a problem you can address, and an offer you can reliably deliver. Then you can test whether those pieces fit together.

Let’s use a fictional commercial embroidery business. The owner can embroider work shirts, hats, uniforms, and promotional items. Many people could buy those services, but the business cannot pursue every opportunity equally.

Here are seven steps to choose where to start—and decide whether that choice deserves more investment.

1. Define the Problem Your Offer Solves

Begin with the customer’s task or difficulty.

The embroidery business provides stitched designs, but customers may need help with something more specific:

• Getting matching shirts for a growing team.

• Replacing worn uniforms.

• Preparing branded clothing for an event.

• Reordering a few items without repeating the entire setup process.

Those are different buying situations. An employer replacing three work shirts may need a different offer from an organizer ordering clothing for 200 volunteers.

For the embroidery business, a starting description could be:

We help small employers get consistent branded workwear for their teams.

That gives the owner a practical direction for identifying buyers whose needs match the work.

2. List a Few Possible Customer Groups

Choose three or four groups that might share the problem.

For the embroidery business, these could include:

• Local restaurants ordering staff uniforms.

• Trade businesses outfitting field crews.

• Event organizers purchasing clothing for volunteers.

• Retail brands producing merchandise.

Keep the groups specific enough to investigate.

“Businesses” is too broad for this exercise. “Local trade businesses with small field crews” gives the owner a clearer group to contact.

Focus on observable needs, buying situations, and requirements. Avoid inventing personality traits or assuming that demographics explain what someone wants.

For each group, note:

• What they might order.

• What situation might create the need.

• Who might approve the purchase.

• What you still need to learn.

Treat these answers as assumptions until conversations or actual orders provide evidence.

3. Compare Each Group With Your Capabilities

A customer can need your offer and still be a poor fit for how your business operates.

Compare each group against your capacity, skills, timing, and costs.

Suppose the embroidery owner can manage small batches but struggles with large orders on short notice. Small employers may be a better starting point than major event organizers.

That choice reflects what the business can deliver reliably today. It can change as capabilities grow.

Narrow the list to one or two promising groups for further investigation.

4. Understand What Triggers a Purchase

A customer description tells you who might buy. A buying trigger helps explain why they would start looking now.

For the embroidery business, possible triggers include:

• Hiring employees.

• Replacing worn or damaged uniforms.

• Preparing for an event.

• Changing a company logo.

• Experiencing problems with an existing supplier.

Think about how each situation affects the order.

An upcoming event may create a firm deadline and a large quantity. Replacing worn shirts may involve small quantities throughout the year.

That difference matters when choosing whom to serve and how to structure the offer.

For now, identify the likely trigger. The next step is to check it through actual customer experience.

5. Talk With Potential Customers

Your first customer profile is a hypothesis. Use conversations to test it.

Ask people in the proposed group about purchases they have made:

• When did you last order branded workwear?

• What started the search?

• What did you order, and in what quantity?

• How did you choose the supplier?

• What worked well or caused difficulty?

• What would you need to know before considering another provider?

A polite answer to “Would you buy this?” does not establish demand. Specific experiences give you more to work with.

Suppose several trade-business owners describe the same difficulty: placing a large initial uniform order is straightforward, but replacing a few shirts later is inconvenient.

Record that pattern. Also record information that challenges your idea, such as buyers needing garments you cannot source or deadlines you cannot meet.

Separate your notes into:

What the customer actually said or did.

What you think it might mean.

This helps prevent an interpretation from becoming an assumed fact.

6. Test an Offer That Matches the Problem

Use what you learned to shape a manageable offer for one customer group.

The conversations identified difficulty with small replacement orders. The test should address that need.

For the fictional embroidery business, the offer might be:

A small replacement-workwear order for local trade crews, with a written quote covering garments, logo preparation, and embroidery. Garment availability, design compatibility, and the completion date are confirmed before acceptance.

The owner would first check whether small orders can cover their setup and production costs. Matching previous garments or embroidery may not always be possible, so any differences should be explained before the customer agrees.

Define:

• Who the offer is for.

• What is included and excluded.

• What the customer must provide.

• How pricing will be quoted.

• When the work can be completed.

• How much time and money you will commit to the test.

The business question is:

Will these customers pay for a replacement-order service we can deliver profitably and reliably?

Present the offer through a practical route, such as relevant local introductions or direct conversations.

Record suitable prospects contacted, quote requests, purchases, objections, fulfillment time, and costs.

Keep compliments, quote requests, paid orders, and repeat purchases separate. Each provides different evidence.

One order is useful evidence. It does not establish a dependable market by itself.

7. Choose a Starting Group and Review the Evidence

Choose the group with the strongest combination of:

• A clear need.

• A reachable decision-maker.

• Willingness to pay.

• A good fit with your capabilities.

• Acceptable costs and margins.

For the fictional embroidery business, the working customer statement becomes:

We serve local trade businesses with small field crews that need replacement branded workwear as uniforms wear out or employees join.

Before increasing spending, set a review point. You might review after presenting the offer to a defined group of suitable prospects or completing the first few orders. These are checkpoints for learning, not proof thresholds.

Consider what it took to earn and fulfill the sales. The aim is to find customers you can serve on workable terms.

Your Target Customer Worksheet

Keep the worksheet brief. Update it as you learn.

Get Specific Before You Spend More

Choosing a target customer gives your marketing direction. Testing helps you decide whether that direction deserves more investment.

This week, choose one possible customer group and have a few focused conversations. Learn what they already buy, what triggers the purchase, and what causes difficulty.

Then shape one small offer that addresses the problem you heard. Set a spending limit and a review point before expanding.

For practical guidance on developing an idea and reaching your first customers, explore From Idea to First Customers on Amazon, part of the Don Ray Practical Business Guide Series: From the Kitchen Table to the Boardroom.

Author disclosure: I wrote From Idea to First Customers and earn royalties from purchases.

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—Don Ray