Someone once told me that I could not make it in a business because there were already people in that particular business!

The thought struck me as stupid. That is why we have other restaurants right. It was not enough to put a McDonalds in town, we also had to build a Burger King, Wendy's, Carl's Junior, Braums, Sonic and several more all of local variety. All of them offer us hamburgers, so why do we need more than one of them?

Because diversity sells. They all make hamburgers, but each one delivers hamburger to us in a slightly different fashion. Every single one of them are successful and have been for years.

To bring this person to forefront of your mind in crystal clarity, here are examples of kinds of questions you need to answer. And your answers need to be reevaluated now and then, as your understanding of your customers grows.

Male Or Female

Your Perfect Customer is male or female, but not both.

Consider an oil additive. It doesn't take long to decide your Perfect Customer is male. Consider face creams. Female.

Name it, then put a sex to it. Even if your target is roughly split between male and female, you need to add a sex to your Perfect Customer.

Why? Because regardless of your sex, you can talk more effectively to men or to women than you can to both. It's a matter of voice, which includes tone and words selected.

A person selling a car to a married couple talks to both at same time. But key dialog is directed at decision maker, male or female. That directed to spouse is quite different, and is intended to specifically address his or her concerns.

On Web, we can't switch between two modes of dialog. Thus we need to settle on male or female.

There's No Loss In This

In end, there is no loss in making this decision. If you decide to address males, females will listen without reservation provided they are also interested in what your product can do for them. And conversely.

All you need to do is avoid sexist related dialog. "Men just don't get it," will cost you male vote. "Women just don't understand these things," will cost you female vote. Avoid such blunders at all times. They put your business at risk.

In deciding between using "he" or "she" when speaking to both genders, use "she" exclusively if your target is into political correctness. Use "he" with those over say 55. You'll have to do some figuring for a target in middle somewhere.

Your decision will probably be gender most likely to buy your product. But do make a decision. The "s/he" bit annoys all.

Turning To Age

You need to assign an age to your Perfect Customer. Again, so long as dialog is authentic, people older or younger will follow along without difficulty. Confusion arises only when we try to speak across too great a range. In doing so, we lose authenticity. And all fails.