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Narrow Your Market to Hit Your Target
Copyright 2005 Cherry Communications/Be Heard Solutions
To some online business owners the thought of specializing
is terrifying. They think that if they specialize they'll
miss a huge part of their potential market.
The reality is that if they don't specialize then their
target market will be way too broad. Marketing to a general
audience can put a huge strain on a marketer's budget and
reduce a campaign's return on investment.
Its important for every business to find its niche, so it
can market to those who will use its products or services,
not to those who can.
Lets face it, you cant be everything to everyone and
you shouldnt try to be. The best marketing experts know
that the more they keep driving down to their niche, and
right for that specific group, the more success they have.
Thats because they focus their message.
So how do you find out what your niche is and who the
people are that will use it?
If you've been in business for a little while, finding your
target market is easy. Just pull out your client/customer
records and ask yourself:
* What people or businesses use my services and/or products
the most?
*What are the common demographics of my customers? What
income level are they at? Do they rent or do they own their
own homes? Are they young and single, middle aged with
children, or older and retired? Are they male or female?
*What are the commonalities that my best
business-to-business clients share? Are they e-commerce
companies? How many employees do they have? Are they large
profit or not-for-profit?
By determining what your customers have in common and what
common products or services these customers purchase,
you've just discovered your niche and the market you should
be targeting.
If you're just starting out and need to discover what your
niche is and whom you should be marketing to, then you
first need to ask yourself two questions: what are you best
at doing and what do you like doing the most. Your answers
to those questions should determine what your company
specializes in.
To find out who will use your services or buy your products
check out your competition to learn how they do business
and what customers they attract. You should also conduct a
survey to profile and build a database of potential
clients/customers to market to.
Specializing might be a terrifying thought, but throwing
money into a marketing campaign that only focuses on the
possibles not the probables is even scarier.
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Shannon Cherry, APR, MA helps businesses, entrepreneurs and
nonprofit organizations to be heard. Shes a marketing
communications and public relations expert with more than
15 years experience and the owner of Cherry Communications.
Subscribe today for Be Heard! a FREE biweekly ezine and get
the FREE special report: "Be the Big Fish: Three No-Cost
Publicity Tactics to Help You Be Heard." Go to:
http://www.cherrycommunications.com/FreeReport.htm
More articles by Shannon Cherry - http://www.submityourarticle.com/articles/Shannon-Cherry-304/
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