your marketing program to a typical customer, it will be more effective because it will seem more friendly to your customers. The easiest way to do that is to create a mythical target customer and individualize that target customer so that you consider her a friend. Be as specific and as personal as you can. If you have friends you hope will be your customers, describe one of your friends. Include age, education, occupation, income, hobbies, family status, reading preferences, favorite television shows, favorite music and so forth.     In the accompanying sample, Antoinette describes her friend and target customer, Terry Chen. With Terry in mind, it is very easy for Antoinette to write ads, letters and flyers and to decide how and where to promote her business. For example, television ads are unlikely to reach Terry since she has so little time to watch TV. Radio ads during commute time can be effective, but may cost too much.           Antoinettes Dress Shop: Target Customer     Terry is 32 years old and has a college education; she is married and has a son, Jimmy, in elementary school. She works as a salesperson for a large corporation and makes about $35,000 per year. Her husband Peter makes a little more than she does, but the family needs her income to support the lifestyle they have chosen.     Terrys work is not a hobby for her; she is very serious about it. Her work makes her travel frequently and she calls home at least twice a day when shes on the road. Since the business world is very competitive in the era of downsizing companies, she must present a good image while maintaining a strict budget.     Terry keeps current with the latest movies and enjoys dinner out with Peter once or twice a week. She watches mostly childrens programs on television in order to spend time with Jimmy, whenever the TV is on. She reads business journals and economic reports and occasionally reads some fashion magazines. Mostly, she gets her fashion sense from seeing current styles in the workplace. Her greatest regret is that she has so little time for Jimmy and Peter.           5. Decide How to Reach Customers     Once you describe your target customer, its easier to create a list of possible ways to reach that person. One of your jobs as a businessperson is to decide which of all the possible methods of communication will give you the most exposure for the least cost in money or time. There are an infinite number of communication methods. These methods range from personal visits to each customer to mass media advertising, with a wide range of possibilities in between. We list some in the accompanying sidebar as a stimulus to your thinking.     There are lots of alternative strategies you can use to reach your market. For example, businesses with a few large dollar customers will have different choices than businesses with many smaller dollar customers. Technical consulting businesses tend to fall in the category of having a few customers with large contracts, whereas fast food restaurants or retail stores have many customers who make small purchases.