Early on in your process of starting your new software project, you're spending a lot of time just figuring out who you should be selling your product to, and where they hang out and you're most likely to find them.

3 Tips to Identifying your Target Audience

Correctly identifying your target audience is crucial to the successful launch of software solutions - in fact any business. However, being based entirely online presents some unique challenges that traditional brick-and-mortar sellers can often overlook at the beginning.

1. Describe the problem you are solving in 3 different ways

Sit down and take the time to write out 3 distinct explanations for the problem that your new software product will solve. Try to frame your explanations in terms that your customer might use when describing their problem, such as "how to save money on taxes next year" instead of "tax reducation or elimination strategy".

2. Get feedback on your explanations

Take your witten explanations of the problem to friends, family, and ideally people you have identified as potential a great fit for your product, and get feedback. Take this feedback to heart and attempt to rework or create 3 new explanations of the problem.

3. Identity your customer based upon their problem

Now that you have 3 or more very clear and refined descriptions of the same problem that you are setting out to solve by creating a new software solution, take the time to reflect and describe who your ideal customer. Are you creating a product that you think will best be adopted by users as a mobile app, or is this something complicated and requiring dedicated focus from a user at a desktop computer using a web browser?

Write out your customer description and again reflect. Stay tuned for a listing of failed software solutions and how you can recover from a bad launch.