In this case he actually can make a great business out of the one “ideal” customer. It’s all about choosing to do one thing great - being the best in the world at something as mentioned in the book “Good to Great”.

A person could make a living from either persona the key is that this one persona fits the business philosophy, goals, and objectives much better than the other.

To answer your question, yes I found that I could speak to two of the three personas effectively.

When I did my Marketing Safari I definitely developed my marketing communications to attract three specific personas - two of the three showed up more often than the third. Here is the important point, the third is what made all the work worthwhile because they had the ability to pay.

You might ask, “Why not focus on the third exclusively?” Well, I have found that the other two personas paid the bills and allowed me the time to invest in developing the business relationship with the third. Plus the third is the most elusive persona that everyone in the world wants as a client. They represent just 1% of the population.

I chose to diversify and spread the risk by paying the bills serving the first two personas and the third persona is where I made all the profit and learned some of the most valuable business lessons.

As far as canceling each other out, at first blush that seems a natural assumption - if you approach marketing in the traditional sense i.e. focusing on target markets.

I do not subscribe to the theory of target markets - I subscribe to targeting needs not markets and have been doing so for 17 years. See, by targeting needs we are appealing to a common need that each persona has…

They just like it delivered a bit differently, which I think is exactly what you are getting at. In my experience it is simply a matter of using appropriate language, specific words that are in alignment with the persona you wish to serve.

My personal experience is that writing for two of the three works great and the third is a bonus that comes along once in awhile. Could a person focus exclusively on the third persona? Only if they are also in the 1% club. Otherwise I have seen numerous good people fail out of business trying to catch the big fish and starve because they never had time or the desire to fish for a smaller catch.

Does that help?

But Barry’s not my only customer. He may not be the only type of person who is my ideal customer, either. I love the concept of an ideal customer. Most business people don’t have one. I can hear the retort now: “Ideal customer? Why, my ideal customer is the one with the check! Ha ha!”

If I were to focus a site/blog on only one persona, would that be too narrowly focused? On the other hand, if I were to try and resonate with three personas, would that even be possible? Unless they were similar to each other in more ways than not, wouldn’t they sort of cancel each other out?