A product without a market is a business failure. Somebody needs to buy your product. Maybe you have to help them see the problem you can solve. Maybe you can solve their problem in a way that others in the market can’t. You need to know your customer.

Your customer is your market. How you sell your product decides how much you need to know about your customer. Do you sell hand-crafted goods on your personal website? You need to know who is interested in them. Do you sell commodity items on an online marketplace? A tradesman buying a new tool and a uni student buying their first mattress have different motivations. Work out your customer’s motivations.

Some customers will know they need your products. Others are unaware you have a solution to their problem. It is better to target one type of customer at a time.

Some customers will be problem aware, others will be problem unaware so you have to show you can solve their problem.

As you think about your customer, you may have to go back to the first step and research more about your product. This is good. You are getting into the head of your customer.

 

 

Second, you need to know who might buy your product. What are their needs, desires, and motivations for buying your product?

Does your customer already know all about the product or do you need to educate them on the benefits of your product? Who is the likely to buy your product or are there many people who might buy it?

What situation are they in when buying it? Do they need it urgently? Is it a ‘must have’ or a luxury?

People care about their needs. Nobody cares about how impressive we are or how awesome our product is. Address their needs. Solve their problems then sell the solution. Show how our product will help them. Even solve needs they don’t know they have.

Help them see their new reality after they have bought your product. Show them how our product will solve their problem and meet their needs.

Write about why the product matters. Write also to the person who already wants that type of product.

But how do you learn about your customer?

1. Client survey. Get the product owner to do research. Give them a survey. They have spent a lot longer with the product than you.
2. Datamining. There are lots of places to go but Reddit is one of the best of them. Easily accessible and searchable. There are subreddit communities for too many different places. Other good places are Facebook, Quora and website forums.
3. SEO websites. Google keywords. AnswerThePublic. Semrush. ahrefs. ChatGPT. Google Analytics. Surfer SEO.
4. Youtube. This is similar to the datamining step. Find a relevant youtube channel. Look at the videos. Look at the comments. See the language they are using. Look at the issues that product is solving. People will share their fears, joys, desires, and hopes.
5. Amazon book reviews. Find a book that writes about your genre. See the reviews for how that book has helped people. Qualitative research like this is invaluable.
6. Speak to them. Find your audience and speak to them. Perhaps this is a paid bit. Maybe you ask a question to that audience. Leverage your social networks (but don’t bore them).

You need to get into your customer’s head. Learn about psychology. Keep writing notes about your target audience. Are their concerns rational? Are they emotive? What will drive them to buy your product? Do they even know they have a problem?

As you learn more about your target audience, you may need to learn more about your product. Your research might become endless so make sure to set a time limit.

When you truly understand your product and your customer, now is the time you can start writing for your product.