Are You Marketing to the Wrong Person?
- Hannah Wilcox
- Jul 8
- 3 min read
When people think about marketing, they often picture one person making a purchase.
Simple enough, right?
Not quite.
One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is assuming that the person paying is always the person using the product or service. In reality, they're often two completely different people.
Understanding the difference could completely change the way you market your business.
Customer vs Consumer
Let's start with the basics.
A customer is the person who buys the product.
A consumer is the person who actually uses it.
Sometimes they're the same person.
Sometimes they're not.
Think about children's toys.
Parents are usually the ones researching, comparing prices, reading reviews and ultimately buying the toy. They're the customer.
The child is the one who'll spend hours playing with it. They're the consumer.
If you're only talking about how much fun the toy is, you're missing the person making the buying decision.
Parents aren't just buying entertainment.
They're buying educational value, durability, safety, quality, something that keeps their children engaged, or maybe just five minutes of peace while they drink a hot cup of tea.
The messaging needs to reflect that.
The Archie Toy Test
This is exactly what I talk about in my Archie video.
Archie doesn't have a bank card.
He didn't compare different brands online.
He didn't read the product description.
He definitely didn't check the reviews.
I did.
I bought the toy because I wanted something that would keep him mentally stimulated, last longer than five minutes and give him something enjoyable to do.
Archie is the consumer.
I'm the customer.
If the marketing had only focused on how much dogs love the toy, I probably wouldn't have bought it.
But tell me it's durable, mentally enriching, suitable for active dogs and built to last, and now you've got my attention.
It Doesn't Stop There
This happens in almost every industry.
A grandparent buys presents for grandchildren.
A husband buys flowers for his wife.
Someone purchases a coffee machine for the whole office.
A parent chooses a school bag their child will carry every day.
A business owner invests in software their team will use.
The customer and consumer aren't always the same person.
Understanding that difference helps you write better marketing.
Then There's the Decision Making Unit
This is where marketing gets even more interesting.
Rarely is there just one person involved in making a purchase.
Especially in higher value purchases or business-to-business marketing.
Instead, there are multiple people influencing the final decision.
This group is known as the Decision Making Unit (DMU).
Each person has different priorities, different concerns and different reasons for saying yes... or no.
In B2B
Imagine you're selling marketing consultancy.
The Managing Director wants business growth.
The Finance Director wants a return on investment.
The Marketing Manager wants someone easy to work with who understands strategy.
The Sales Manager wants more qualified leads.
They're all looking at the same proposal.
But they're all looking for different things.
If your website only talks about creating engaging social media posts, you could completely miss what the decision makers actually care about.
This is one of the reasons I spend so much time understanding a business before recommending any marketing activity.
Because great marketing isn't just about attracting attention.
It's about speaking to the right people in the right way.
In B2C
The same principle applies.
Let's go back to toys.
The child influences the purchase because they want the bright colours, exciting features and fun experience.
The parent decides whether it's safe, worth the money and suitable for their child.
The grandparents might be looking for a meaningful birthday present.
Everyone is involved.
Everyone has different motivations.
Your marketing needs to answer each of them.
Why This Matters
When businesses say,
"Our marketing isn't working."
I often find the problem isn't the platform.
It isn't the advert.
It isn't even the product.
It's the messaging.
If you're talking to the wrong person, even brilliant marketing can struggle.
Before creating your next social media post, website page, advert or email campaign, ask yourself:
Who actually uses this?
Who pays for it?
Who influences the decision?
What matters most to each of those people?
Those four questions alone can completely change the way you communicate.
The Takeaway
Marketing isn't about shouting the loudest.
It's about understanding people.
The more you understand who is involved in a buying decision, the easier it becomes to create marketing that genuinely connects.
So next time you're planning a campaign, don't just think about your customer.
Think about everyone sitting around the decision-making table.
Because the person using your product might not be the person who decides to buy it.
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