Live Case Study - Selecting Our Target Market

I want to answer one question: Who are we going to serve?

Our challenge is to create something irresistible for one person.

People are unique. We all have personal preferences - things we love to do, things we secretly love to do, and things we wish we didn't love to do.

The Temptation

The temptation is to play it safe. Our friend says we should include x, because people really like x. And your mom says that she doesn't like y. So you end up adding x, taking out y, and gradually head towards the middle of the market.

But when we play it safe we disrespect our future client. We dehumanize her into a number.

We disrespect ourselves. We commoditize our product. We make it look, feel, smell, like the competition.

The truth is, everyone has their own preferences. Brilliant makers produce products that cater to a single person.

There use to be 4 channels on TV.

Now there's 1,000 + YouTube, NetFlix, and Steemit.

Here's the question: Who are we going to serve?

Am I going to create the best product for Kansas?

Or am I going to create the best product for Matt, the 24 year old personal trainer, aspiring MMA fighter, who listens to Kendrick Lamar between the rhythm of his Nike sneakers while he puts in the work at 6:00AM?

Conclusion

I don't know Matt yet. I haven't met him yet. I haven't asked what he cares about, what his day looks like, or what would help him most.

Over the next few posts I'll be building an Avatar for Matt. I'll share our base assumptions about him. Then we're going to go find as many Matts as we can and expose how wrong our assumptions were.

If you liked this article and want to catch up, you can find the sister series Urban Farming below.

Selecting Our Crops! | Urban Farming Day 1
Understanding DTM! | Urban Farming Day 2
Spacing Crops | Urban Farming Day 3

Lastly, all proceeds go to farm.

I'm documenting for a few reasons.

First, as tribute to the amazing content producers before me. You've given me confidence to start this project, and I hope others will be inspired in the same way.

Second, for Steemit. Although new here, I hope to contribute meaningful, valuable articles.

Lastly, every upvote breaths life into our garden.

We're self-funding, and we're inviting you to help. Currently we're on our way to saving for an Earthway Seeder. New, it's $112.99, but we think we can get one used for $70 off eBay.

Your Support so Far! $0.93

Thank you so much!
Stephan