---
title: Market and Customer Definition
summary: Get specific enough that your customer definition drives marketing decisions instead of sounding reasonable in a plan.
est_minutes: 5
sort: 4
---

Vague customer definitions produce vague marketing.

Vague marketing produces vague results.

This module is about getting specific enough that your customer definition is actually useful in an operational context, not just something that sounds reasonable in a business plan.

**The Specificity Test**

Before you write a new customer definition, run your current one through the specificity test.

Your current answer fails the test if you describe a demographic range. "Small business owners aged 30 to 55" is not a customer definition. It is a census category.

It fails if you name an industry without naming a problem. "Marketing agencies" is not a customer. "Marketing agencies that cannot retain team members past six months" is closer.

It fails if your answer could describe your competitor's customer just as accurately. If anyone else in your space could use the same description, it is not specific enough.

The test is this: could you look at any individual and immediately say yes or no, this is or is not my customer? If you cannot make that call in 10 seconds, your definition is too broad to drive decisions.

**The Market Statement**

Your market statement defines the field you compete in. It is not a mission statement. It is a targeting declaration.

The formula: We operate in [INDUSTRY OR CATEGORY] serving [SPECIFIC STAGE OR SITUATION] who are trying to [PRIMARY GOAL] without [PRIMARY OBSTACLE].

The key word in that formula is "without." The obstacle is what separates your customer from the result they want. Your offer exists because of that obstacle. If you cannot name the obstacle clearly, you do not fully understand why your customer needs you.

**The ICP: Two Steps**

Your Ideal Customer Profile is built in two steps.

Step one: describe the situation. Where is this person in their business or life right now? What does their day look like operationally? What are they actively struggling with that they cannot solve on their own?

Be specific here. Not "they are overwhelmed." Overwhelmed is a feeling. What specifically is making them feel that way? What broke this week? What question did they google at midnight?

Step two: define the outcome. What result is this person actively trying to reach in the next 90 to 180 days? Name a number, a change in how the business operates, or a specific milestone.

Combine both into one sentence: [PERSON IN SITUATION] who is trying to [OUTCOME] without [OBSTACLE OR CONSTRAINT].

That sentence is your Ideal Customer Profile. It updates Component 02 on your one-page plan.

**Message-to-Market Fit**

Once your ICP is defined, there is one more check.

Message-to-market fit is the degree to which the language in your marketing matches the language your ideal customer uses to describe their own situation.

If you say "operational efficiency" and your customer says "my team keeps dropping the ball," you have a language gap. Their version is the one that should drive your copy. Not your internal vocabulary.

Your Module 04 download includes a two-column comparison table for this. Your marketing language on the left. Their language on the right. If the columns use different words to describe the same thing, your messaging needs to shift toward theirs.

**Your Action Step**

Download the Module 04 Customer Definition worksheet below. Complete all four parts. Transfer your one-sentence ICP to Component 02 on your one-page plan. Your market statement adds context to Component 01.
