One of the conversations I’ve had a few times this week revolves around a simple idea that business owners often forget:
You are not your client.
It sounds obvious when you say it out loud, but it’s amazing how often we make decisions about marketing based purely on our own preferences.
I was speaking with a client recently who absolutely should have been advertising on TikTok based on the audience she was trying to reach. Her response was simple: “I don’t have TikTok. I don’t know anything about it.”
And that’s fine.
But your familiarity with a platform isn’t the same thing as its effectiveness.
If your customers are there, it doesn’t matter whether you personally use it.
I actually caught myself making the same mistake recently. I was talking to someone who was running ads on local AM radio here in Rockhampton, on 4RO.
My initial reaction was basically: “Really? Why?”
But she explained that when she paused the ads, business dipped. When she restarted them, enquiries came back.
So clearly, it was working.
The problem there wasn’t the radio station.
The problem was my assumption that everyone consumes media the same way I do.
They don’t.
This is exactly why, in our brand strategy workshops, we spend time developing client personas or ideal customer profiles. When you really think about your audience, you realise something important:
Your clients usually don’t care about the same things you care about as the business owner.
In fact, if they did think the way you think and cared about the same things you care about…
They’d probably be your competitor, not your customer.
So when you’re deciding where to advertise, where to show up, or which marketing channels to invest in, remember this:
Your habits are irrelevant.
What matters is where your clients are spending their time.
Because at the end of the day…
You are not your client.
