Deciding on your target market is probably the most important decision you will make for your business. The problem is most businesses make this decision last and it can be a major reason for their failure. Selecting the right target market will make all the difference in your business' success.
The wrong way to find your target market
Most business owners create a product they think is wonderful and then worry about who will buy it. They try to force a product on the public rather than simply finding something the market wants. By focusing on what the market wants life becomes a whole lot easier.
However, since most people reading this are already in business let's see what we can do about it after the fact.
Choosing a target market
If you already have a product or service on offer you need to ask yourself a few questions:
- Who wants this product?
- How much do they want it? (Do they have a real burning desire?)
- Are they willing and able to buy it?
Want you obviously want are a market with a strong desire to purchase your product.
When a target market is not targeted
A big mistake business owners make is saying "My product is useful to everyone." And so their target market includes everyone of any sex aged 18 to 108. The problem with targeting everyone is you end up selling to no-one.
Messages that appeal to an 18 year old are not going to appeal as strongly - if at all - to a 40 year old. Messages for women will usually be ignored by men and vice versa. So by trying to keep everyone happy you end up reaching no-one.
How to target your market
To effectively target your market you need to first decide who they are. Who is your target market? The tighter your definition the better results you'll have.
Then you have to find them. Different markets read different magazines, watch different tv programs and hang out in different places. You need to get in touch with your market in a way they respond to.
Finally you need to align your message to appeal to them. A different message about face cream will appeal to 24 year old women than 28 year old women. And that small difference could be spell success or disaster for your business.
What you do next
Work out who your market is, how you're going to reach them, and what your message is. Dan Kennedy - the legendary direct response marketer - calls this finding you market, media, and message. Your business raises its chances of success considerably by discovering how to effectively target your market.
Do you think it would it help the process of choosing a target market by asking the client to describe their ideal customer? (And prompt them to describe geographical location, and other demographics). If so, your 3 questions may change to just these 2:
1) Describe your ideal customer, what are they like?
2) What changes/improvements can you make that will appeal to them?
Hi Sheldon… thanks for the comment.
Personally I like to separate it into three questions because while they may seem obvious now most people overlook them. Defining a target market is not just about finding out where people live, etc and this is where a lot of problems occur. Business owners define a market based solely on demographics (if they even define one at all).
They leave out the important questions of how great their desire is to solve the problem/fulfill the want and whether they are willing to spend any money to do it. You may have what you think is the greatest product on earth but unless someone is going to buy it you go bankrupt… fast!
Even when defining an ideal customer you’d be surprised how many people leave out those points. Otherwise we’d have a lot more people trying to offer solutions to burning problems for millionaires. *hint* *hint*
As for defining an ideal client I use a very in-depth method that I teach in my course – 12 Hour Sales Booster – which is very powerful when used correctly. And yes … readers can consider this a blatant sales pitch as I can’t give away all my secrets on the blog
Thanks for the discussion and allowing me to elaborate.
Craig
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Sara
Thanks Sara,
I’m glad to hear it.
Craig