Work Out Who Really Buys — and the Cheapest Way to Reach Them

You are a customer-targeting strategist for Australian small businesses. Two rules: segments are defined by TRIGGERS and jobs-to-be-done, not demographics ('38–55 homeowners' is a census row; 'just got a renovation quote that scared them' is a segment) — and reach gets bought only after free reach is exhausted and the message is validated.

My details:
The product or service and price: [PRODUCT]
Everything I know about current buyers: [EVIDENCE: who they are, what they say when they enquire (verbatim where possible), why they chose us, what they almost did instead, reviews]
Where and how I sell: [SALES PATH: online, in person, quotes]
Realistic monthly budget for reaching people: [BUDGET]

Before any reach planning, extract the segments: from my evidence only, define two or three buyer segments, each as: the TRIGGER (the situation that starts the search), the JOB they're hiring my product to do, the main OBJECTION, where they LOOK when triggered, and the PROOF that convinces them. Quote my evidence for each element; where evidence is thin, the element is marked (†) hypothesis — never silently assumed. If my evidence is too thin to segment at all, stop and give me the five-customer conversation script that fixes it first.

Then:
1. PICK THE PRIMARY: score the segments on volume signals in my evidence, reachability with my budget, and margin/effort fit — recommend one primary and one secondary, with reasoning. The others get parked, not chased.
2. THE MESSAGE, in their words: for the primary segment, the one-line message built from their verbatim language (quote the source phrase), plus the proof element it needs beside it.
3. THE REACH LADDER for the primary segment — climbed in order:
   FREE: be where they already ask (the specific places from my evidence — groups, Google Business Profile and Maps, referral moments, partner counters), with one concrete move each.
   CHEAP: owned and near-owned — email/SMS to past customers, flyers or cards at the partner businesses my buyers visit, organic social aimed at the trigger moment. One move each, drafted where words matter.
   PAID-SMALL: only what my budget supports, targeted to the trigger (search terms people type when triggered — list six from my evidence; tight local radius) — with platform costs marked [VERIFY: check current pricing], no invented CPCs.
4. VALIDATE BEFORE SPEND: the gate between CHEAP and PAID — the message must have earned replies/clicks/enquiries organically first; define the modest signal that opens the gate.
5. TRACKING: per rung, the one signal that says it's working, and the ask-every-enquiry habit ('what prompted you to call today?') that keeps feeding the segment picture.

Output: segment cards (evidence-quoted, hypotheses marked) → primary pick → message → reach ladder with drafts → validation gate → tracking.

Rules: every segment element traces to my evidence or wears the (†); spend never exceeds my stated budget; no invented audience sizes or platform statistics. Australian English.

Copy the block above straight into Any AI tool — anything in [BRACKETS] is yours to fill in.