Everyone Is Not Your Target Customer

This is something that probably every digital marketing expert has heard from a business owner. When asked about what type of people they are trying to reach with their marketing efforts, the business owner says, “I think everyone will be interested in my product/service.” And what of those that don’t want that business’s product or service? Well, they just don’t understand how great it is, and it’s the fault of the marketing that that person does not want what that business has to offer.

We all know that’s probably not true. So why do people not respond to your products or services? Why is everyone in the world not your target customer?

Some Customers Will Just Never Buy

They might not understand exactly how the product can benefit them or how great the features are. They might not know that using your product or service can save them money or time. These are all things that your marketing is designed to convey, and it just might not be getting through to every single person. This is a legitimate reason that some people do not purchase everything that is advertised to them.
But then, there are also people that just will never buy from you. They might not have the money to buy your product or service, they might not like the color. It might have one single feature that they do not need, so they do not buy the entire product. People are finicky and some will not be able to overlook whatever small flaws they see with your product in order to make a purchase.
There’s also always the possibility that they just do not like your product, whether it’s the design, the flavor, the concept, etc.

They Don’t Have Your Mindset

Your target audience is probably going to be a class of people that have the same attitudes and experiences as you. They are probably going to have something in common with you, and operate under the same mindset. A simple example: you as the business owner know how much money and time has gone into developing your product or service. The customer, however, does not. They see only the face value of your product/service, and sometimes, your asking price will not reflect that value, so they don’t want to buy.

This is a gap in mindset between business and buyer. A customer might object to a certain pricing model, to the subscription format, to the overall price in general, or their mindset may simply clash with yours. In this case, they likely will not see the value in what you are offering. To remedy this issue on most fronts, you will want to make sure that what you’re offering has major bang for its buck, regardless of how many resources you have dumped into creating it. If it cost you $1000 to make something, and you are selling it for $2000, but it is really only worth $500, you probably are going to run into customer who just cannot reconcile the price and value gap.

They Actually Hate Your Product

One of my best friends is a staunch Apple-hater. No matter what they produce, he will probably hate it and will talk about how the Windows or Android equivalent is just as good, if not better. There is likely nothing that Apple could create that he would like. They are never going to win him over, despite the fact that, objectively, they make quality devices that appeal to a wide variety of people.

There are going to be people like this with your business. You could be curing cancer, but they will still hate you and what you are producing. This is fundamentally discouraging for a lot of businesses. How can they make any money if there are people out there that outright hate them without even using their products or trying their services?

Well, there are also going to be a lot of people out there that love you. You cannot please everyone, nor should you aim to. Trying to please everyone will leave you scattered and, more importantly, will make it impossible to please the people that really matter: your real target audience. For every person that prefers your competitor over you, there is going to be someone that prefers you over your competitor.

This doesn’t make the people that dislike you wrong—it just means that you’re not right for them, and you should be grateful you don’t have to try to do business with people that you simply would never be able to please. Focus, instead, on the people that really do love you. Those are the people you can make happy.