You hear this in the consulting business: When you are building the product, don't listen to your client. Listen to your client's client.

There is a similar idea in marketing. When you want to target a particular market, don't target the market. Target who they want to be.

A classic example is Marlboro. The Marlboro Man is an instantly recognizable marketing icon. Marlboro certainly isn't the largest selling brand of cigarettes in the world because it sells to the cowboy market. There are very few cowboys left; especially cowboys who look like that. The Marlboro Man exists because Philip Morris realized that selling to your inner cowboy is far more profitable than selling to you.