Tuesday, 21 February 2012

Five Fantastic Suggestions To Help You Find Your Target Market

By Gene Fink


If you have your own small business, it's important to decide exactly who you will be marketing your products or services to. The old adage "you can't please everybody" applies here, only this time, you can't market to everybody regardless of how much capital or time you have. And it's not like we would recommend that anyway.

Just like it is with pop musicians, you, as a businessperson, need a target audience. This is an identifiable group of people you believe will be the best prospects for your business.

But this is something that is easier said than done for many small business owners - when it comes down to just one group, they can't seem to make the final choice. Because a lot of these products or services are meant not just for one group of people, the common pitfall is to try to pander to everybody.

Additionally, a lot of people find it difficult to reconcile this strategy to the way they were brought up. It also goes against common sense, because a bigger business, generally, appeals to a wide range of people.

But that is not how it is in the real world. By narrowing our focus and homing in on that one specific group of people, this teaches us to specialize in their specific problems. This breeds familiarity in our customer base, and the end result would be products and services stylized in such a way that these specific people's needs are met.

However, the above still has not answered the question of who to market to.

Following are 5 tips

Consider the people whom you believe could reap the greatest rewards from your offerings.

Think about the people whom you find it a pleasure to work with or solve problems for.

Think about the type of people who will be easiest to reach, AND who will be most receptive to what you are selling. These will be people who KNOW they have THE problem you can solve and are LOOKING for a solution.

Know that just because you select a particular group of people to focus your marketing on, does NOT mean you can't help others who may come to you. It simply means you have chosen this group of people for your most intensive marketing strategies.

Finally, lighten up and smell the roses. Listen to your gut, pick a group you feel you can really help and proceed with the development of your marketing plan. Marketing is a fluid process. The important thing is to start. As you improve your skills and learn more things, it is always possible to make changes in a snap.




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