6. Connecting with Customers - How to Align with Your Target Customer

Start with the Customer, Work Backwards

• In 1997, Steve Jobs returned to Apple after a decade of drift — including the misguided decision to license the Mac OS to clone makers.
• His core diagnosis: most companies build a product and then look for a market. Jobs reversed the process — start with the customer experience, then engineer backward.
• The iPhone wasn’t introduced as a technical achievement. It was introduced as a unified experience: “Three devices in one.”

Key Insight: The brand story begins with the customer — not the product.

Brands Work Subconsciously — Know Your Persona

• Brands connect below the level of rational decision-making. A Kind Bar isn’t just protein — it’s a two-dollar hug on a bad day.
• Market segmentation identifies customer types called personas — representative archetypes built from demographics, behavior, and emotional motivation.
• Avoid stereotypes: "Joe Lunch-Bucket" beer drinker is more likely named Jose, who prefers Modelo Negra. Observe the world; demographics are shifting constantly.
• Signals worth watching: Gen Z and cars, plant-based fast food, mobile-first computing, Patagonia on Wall Street, hard seltzer replacing craft beer.

Key Insight: You don’t need a research budget. Open your eyes — the world tells you who your customer is.

Look for the Emotional Truth Behind the Purchase

• Young couples spending $1,300 on a Bugaboo stroller aren’t buying it for the baby — the baby would be fine in a $14 sling.
• They’re buying a symbol of commitment. The stroller is their first major project as a couple, and they want to do it right.

The stroller has nothing to do with the baby.

Key Insight: Customers rarely buy for the reasons they state. Find the emotional truth beneath the rational justification.

Case Study: Beyond Meat — Getting the Target Customer Right

• Beyond Meat’s IPO traded at 163% above its offering price — one of Wall Street’s most successful debuts. The key positioning decision: target meat eaters, not vegans.
• The two real target personas: Cardiac Cal (loves meat but needs to cut back) and Mary the Mommy (time-crunched, wants wholesome options). Vegans, eco-warriors, and wellness enthusiasts were disqualified once the product’s highly processed nature became known.
• Despite the IPO success, sales later plummeted — alienating vegetarians and vegans hurt cultural credibility, and health scrutiny eroded the core appeal.
• The Bell Curve rule: focus your brand story on the customer at the top of the bell curve. Apple sold iPods to young hipsters — but older consumers followed. Lead with the center, and the rest of the curve comes along.

Key Insight: Your target customer isn’t everyone who might buy. It’s the person your brand story speaks to most directly — get that right, and the rest of the curve follows.