Starting a business is tough. Starting a food business is even tougher.

There's plenty of regulation, hoops to jump through, and at the end of the day your product has a shelf-life.

One of the most important things you have to figure out is who exactly your customer is. Who is a prototypical customer, or who are the prototypical customers that would buy your product?

Archetyping

In marketing and product development this is often called archetyping. You have to be able to describe your customer in sufficient detail to know what their typical day looks like, how they surf the web, what stores they shop in, how they relax, and what the eat.

Archetyping -> Marketing

Once you go through this exercise, it all of a sudden becomes much easier to decide on packaging, phrasing, marketing strategy, potential partners, and retail outlets.

In almost any business, food or otherwise, you have to understand your customer. Do this, and you'll be rewarded.

Have you practiced this? Had success or failure? Discuss in the comments below.