One of the biggest mistakes small business owners make is trying to market to everyone. It feels safer—why exclude anyone, right? But when you try to talk to everyone, you end up connecting with no one. Generic messaging gets ignored because it doesn't feel personal or relevant to the person reading it.
The fix? Get specific about who you're trying to reach. Start by looking at your past clients or customers. Who did you genuinely enjoy working with? Who valued your time, paid fairly, and got great results? Those people are your starting point—they're clues about who your ideal customer actually is.
From there, go deeper. Write down their demographics: age range, location, income level, profession. Then layer in the psychographics—what keeps them up at night? What are they hoping to accomplish? What frustrations led them to look for a solution like yours? This combination of who they are and what they care about gives you a complete picture you can actually market to.
Aim to create 2–3 customer personas you can reference whenever you're writing a social media caption, building a landing page, or planning a campaign. When you write as if you're speaking to one specific person, your content becomes more compelling and effective.
You also need to figure out where your ideal customers spend time. Are they scrolling Instagram, networking on LinkedIn, or searching Google for solutions? Knowing this prevents you from wasting effort on platforms where your audience isn't active.
Here's the good news: your target audience isn't set in stone. As your business evolves, your audience might shift too—and that's perfectly fine. The important thing is having a clear starting point so your marketing isn't just noise. Enji's marketing strategy generator helps you define your target audience as part of building your overall strategy, so you're not guessing who you're talking to.
