Who you are for and what you promise

Marketing starts before you post anything

Many small businesses start marketing by opening an Instagram account and posting products. Months later, they have followers but few sales. The problem is usually not the posting. It is that the business has not decided clearly who it is for and what it promises.

Who you are for

"Everybody" is not an audience. A bakery that tries to appeal to everyone sounds like every other bakery. Choose the customers you serve best and most profitably. Describe them in simple terms:

• Who they are: for example, working mothers in Lekki, small restaurant owners in Wuse, secondary school students in Enugu.
• What they need: birthday cakes delivered on time, reliable weekly bread supply, affordable snacks after school.
• What worries them: late delivery, poor quality, hidden costs, being ignored after paying.
• Where they already look: WhatsApp groups, Instagram, Google, church or mosque notices, word of mouth.

You can serve more than one group, but write a separate description for each.

What you promise

Your promise is the main reason these customers should choose you over the alternatives, including doing nothing. A good promise is:

• specific: "Cakes delivered on the day, or it is free" rather than "quality cakes";
• something you can keep every time;
• important to the customer, based on what worries them;
• different from what competitors say.

How you say it

Customers decide in seconds. Your message should use their words, not industry language. "We fix your generator the same day in Port Harcourt" beats "Comprehensive power solutions provider".

Positioning in practice

Positioning is the combination: for this customer, with this need, we are the business that delivers this promise, because of this proof. The proof might be years of experience, reviews, a guarantee, or photos of real work.

A worked example

A tailoring business in Kaduna first described itself as "fashion designer for all occasions". After this exercise it chose a clear audience, professional women who need work clothes that fit, and a clear promise: "Office wear that fits perfectly, ready in 7 days, with free adjustments." Enquiries became more relevant, and the owner stopped chasing every kind of job.

What this means for you

Everything else in this course, from channels to adverts, works better once you know exactly who you are talking to and what you are offering them. Take the time to decide this first.