We are not the only "who"

Consider alternate customers For some teams, the biggest question is not about the form of their product, it’s about customers.

So, tell me: Who’s your customer? What problem are you solving for them? These

Whether we are marketers or consumers, each of us has a fundamental relationship with others that colours all our perspectives, decisions, values and actions. As marketers, when we see others as separate from ourselves, they become depersonalised and generalised. They cease being individuals and turn into numbers, demographics and statistics. When

we were designing things for people, so we needed to understand both technology and people. But that’s a difficult step for many engineers: machines are so logical, so orderly. If we didn’t have people, everything would work so much better.

Understanding your customer—their demographics and psychographics, their wants and needs and pain points—is the foundation of your company. Your product, team, culture, sales, marketing, support, pricing—everything is shaped by that understanding.

Your job is to think through the kinds of people who have the problem you are interested in solving. Sometimes they have a particular job, or a state of mind, live in a particular part of the world, or belong to a certain age group. Standard demographics might be useful, or they might be irrelevant. What are the commonalities across your customer b