The Why Behind the Buy
From Shrugs to Strategy: Turn vague personas into messages that convert.
I’ve evaluated hundreds of food brands in the last 12 months. Want to know what separates the winners from the wishful thinkers?
The winners know exactly who they’re for and why those people care.
I’m Seth — Partner at Schaefer, where I help food & beverage brands find their precision customers through buyer psychology. Before this, I built a startup from $0 to $8M in annual revenue in 18 months (and learned some hard lessons about growing too fast for the wrong people).
My philosophy is simple: stop wasting 60% of your marketing budget talking to everyone.
Here’s what drives me crazy:
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Me: “Who’s your target customer?”
Them: “Millennial moms”
Me: “All of them?”
Them: “Yeah!”
Me: “Why?”
Them: 🤷
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That conversation? It happens every week. And it’s killing brands.
Because “millennial moms” isn’t a segment. It’s lazy thinking that leads to generic messaging nobody remembers and media plans that burn cash.
What I believe: motivations > demographics
Demographics tell you who holds the wallet. Motivations tell you why it opens.
The mom buying your snack bar because it keeps her full during back-to-back meetings has nothing in common with the mom buying it because it tastes like childhood. Same age bracket. Same product. Completely different humans solving completely different problems.
Demographics tell you who holds the wallet. Motivations tell you why it opens.
Why broad segments fail (fast)
Message misfit: You ship “healthy for the whole family” when your best buyer wants “no crash between Zooms.”
Channel waste: You pour budget into TikTok because “millennials,” while the real purchase moment is the 11:30 a.m. desk snack.
Pricing confusion: You argue over $2.49 vs. $2.99 when the job is actually “replace a $6 café run.”
My approach: ask better questions
“What would they choose if you didn’t exist?” (Your real competition: doing nothing, coffee, a banana, another aisle.)
“What job does your product do in their life?” (Your actual value: satiety, nostalgia, social proof, convenience.)
“Why do they choose you over doing nothing?” (Your true differentiator: faster, simpler, tastier, cleaner, cooler.)
Add these for precision:
“When and where does the decision happen?” (Moment > media; shelf, app, gas station, lunch desk.)
“What’s their objection in that moment?” (“I’ll crash,” “Too much sugar,” “My kid won’t eat it.”)
“What proof removes that objection?” (Macros, third-party badges, quick demo, review snippets.)
“What must be true in the first 5 seconds?” (One benefit. One proof. Zero friction.)
Three real-world customer needs (and how to win them)
Desk Fuelers
Context: 10:58 a.m., two calls until noon, brain fading.
Job: “Keep me full and focused without a sugar crash.”
Fears: Hidden sugar, crumb-bomb bar, weird aftertaste.Your move:
Promise: “4 hours of steady energy.”
Proof: protein/fiber + glycemic claim + review from a knowledge worker.
Placement: office micro-markets, LinkedIn retargeting, Amazon “subscribe & save.”
Creative: tidy desk, calendar view, one-hand bite. No crumbs.
Memory Seekers
Context: Sunday shop, treating themselves/kids.
Job: “Give me childhood flavor with adult standards.”
Fears: “Clean” = bland; “fun” = junky.Your move:
Promise: “The cereal aisle you grew up with—minus the junk.”
Proof: clean-label badges + side-by-side sugar swap + UGC “my kid asked for seconds.”
Placement: endcaps, recipe TikToks, mommy-blog newsletters.
Creative: nostalgic color cues + modern typography.
Adventure Snackers
Context: Trailhead/gym checkout.
Job: “Packable, tasty, won’t melt or mush.”
Fears: Messy, chalky, too sweet.Your move:
Promise: “Trail-ready fuel in two bites.”
Proof: melt test, pack test, athlete quote.
Placement: REI/indie outdoor, Strava clubs, gym fridges.
Creative: macro of product structure + glove-hand grab.
From “who” to “why”: a simple framework
Target = Motivation + Moment + Constraint
Motivation: What outcome are they paying for? (Satiety, nostalgia, status, health.)
Moment: Where/when do they decide? (Desk, cart, car, scroll.)
Constraint: What limit rules them? (Time, sugar, price, portability.)
When you understand the why behind the buy, everything changes. CAC drops. Conversions lift. Merch velocity improves because your promise matches the job and the moment.
What changes in practice
Positioning: One crisp promise per motivation (not per persona).
Creative: Lead with the job; make the proof scannable.
Media: Buy the moment, not the audience label.
Retail: Win the shelf with “1-2-Proof”: one benefit, two words of context, visible proof element.
Measurement: Track moment-fit KPIs—add-to-cart rate in the target window, repeat within job cohort, share of wallet vs. nearest substitute.
A quick self-audit for your next campaign
What job are we promising to do?
How do we prove it in 5 seconds?
What’s the default substitute if we didn’t exist?
Where does the decision actually happen?
Which objection kills us most often, and how do we neutralize it?
What’s our first repeat trigger (and did we engineer it)?
What would make a satisfied buyer tell a friend in this job?
What single metric tells us we’re winning this job?
How we do this at Schaefer
We map your precision customers by buyer psychology, pressure-test the “jobs” with first-party data, and then build messaging, creative, and channel plans that sell to those people in those moments. Fast, focused, documented.
That’s precision marketing. And that’s what I help brands achieve.
🥣 If you’re in food & beverage and tired of talking to everyone while converting no one, let’s connect. I hold office hours weekly for founders and brand managers ready to find their precision customers. Reply here, reach out on LinkedIn, and I’ll share an invite.