Targeted Marketing
10 Questions To Help You Hit The Bulls-Eye!
When you target your marketing, you are focusing all of your marketing muscle on a particular group of people or a specific niche.
But the key is you must first define that niche or group
You must know who you are talking to in your marketing, and more importantly, where you can find them (or where to place your marketing to reach them) in order to market effectively.
For many people defining a specific target market is challenging
Business owners often fear they will limit the size of their business by excluding certain audiences from their marketing.
In reality, the way to build a successful business is to know exactly who your ideal clients are, build a business that solves a major problem they have, and make sure you solve that problem in a way no one else does.
In effect, you become THE product or service for that NICHE
As a marketer you must realize you cannot effectively market unless you know specifically who you are talking to. Without targeted marketing you will be "trying to be everything to everyone."
If you make this mistake your marketing won't resonate with anyone
It is also not a very cost-effective way to market because you will end up marketing to many people who are unlikely to ever purchase from you and that wastes your valuable resources.
So how do you Target Market?
Here are 10 questions you can ask about your potential clients. Your answers will help you paint a detailed profile of to whom you should be marketing. Once you understand this, I think you'll find everything else -such as where to market and what to say - falls quickly into place.
As you go through these questions, understand you may need to make some educated guesses. That's okay. It's a start and you can always refine your answers as your business grows and you begin to better understand your target market.
1. What is the primary problem you help your clients solve?
2. Are your ideal clients primarily male or female?
3. How old are your ideal clients?
4. Where do your ideal clients live, work or play?
5. What type of work do they do or what business are they in?
6. What is their socio-economic status or business status?
7. How do your ideal clients spend their time (work & play)?
8. What is their family structure or business environment?
9. Do they belong to associations or professional organizations?
10. What are their media habits (where do they get their info)?
Answer each of these 10 questions to the best of your ability.
You may want to also talk to current clients, friends or colleagues who fit your ideal client profile to gain a better understanding of who and where they are.
Once you build this target market description, you'll have a much better sense of where you can find them. And you'll be able to put out marketing messages that speak directly to them because you will better understand who they are how your product or service fits into their life or business.
© Copyright 2008 Debbie LaChusa
Debbie LaChusa created 10stepmarketing to help solo-professionals and small business owners market their own businesses more successfully. Debbie believes creating a marketing plan is the first step in building a successful business. Don't have a marketing plan? You can get a free marketing plan template to help you can create one when you subscribe to The 10stepmarketing Ezine at http://www.10stepmarketing.com