If you have any desire to create advertising that appeals to them you need to be able to answer this question. What I'm talking about here isn't really about just the new company, though, but those who have been around for a very long time.

What happens is that a company loses sight of who their customers are. After enough years things like this get forgotten and left behind over the years, until quite often you'll end up with a situation where you think your customers are different people than they actually are.

People are constantly coming and going in different areas. They're getting older, finding their interests shifting, and after enough years your entire customer base might start to become different.

At first, continuing on with the same marketing strategies can gain you reasonable business, but you might find yourself losing touch with those who used to be loyal, and eventually losing most of your business because you weren't sure who your customers were anymore.

The best way to prevent a thing like this from ever happening is by keeping careful tabs on exactly who's shopping at your store or hiring out your services.

This serves multiple functions. The first is the ability to create advertising that better appeals to those who have been giving you business for years. You'll be able to ensure you'll never lose sight of them, and therefore never lose their trust and business.

But this also gives you a good means of getting knew customers. You know what it is that people like about your business and why they keep coming in. Get some custom greeting cards you can sent out to knew customers that emphasize these specific traits.

By having a better grip on your customer base you'll be able to make your current customers that much happier, and bring in additional customers through the use of the same types of themes in your advertising.

This might also apply to the type of advertising that you're getting done. If customer greeting cards aren't the best way to go, perhaps posters are what have been working with your existing customers, and so will help gain you business from other like-minded people.

Just remember that the worst thing a company can do is forget about who their customers really are. It can happen a lot more easily than you might think, especially if you've been around for enough years. People can settle into a routine, and you might do the same in thinking your customers are a certain type of people, only to realize you're wrong when your business falters.

You need to be sure you never let things reach that point, and always keep on top of who you're customers really are.