In the world of business, identifying your target market is crucial. Many business owners, when asked about their target market, often mention broad categories such as small business owners, opportunity seekers, doctors, or homeowners. If you're defining your target market in such broad terms, you're likely working harder and spending more money than necessary to promote your business. Moreover, you're probably not reaching your full sales potential. The key to efficient and effective marketing lies in finding your niche market.
A niche market is a narrowly defined group that satisfies several criteria:
A niche market allows you to target your sales messages with great precision. The more narrowly you define your niche market, the easier it is to cater to the specifically defined interests of people in that market.
For instance, some businesses describe their target market as "opportunity seekers". However, this is a broad audience that could include executives wanting to start their own business, new mothers looking to start a home-based business, or students seeking extra income. Any promotional message to this group would have to be very general. But people don't respond to general talk. They respond only when they feel you are talking directly to them about their individual needs.
A well-defined, small niche market can insulate you from competition. Other small businesses are likely to overlook it, and large businesses may find the market segment too small to bother with.
One way to identify a good niche market is to evaluate your existing customers. Can you uncover a segment of customers with similar characteristics?
For example, a distributor for a health products company noticed that many distributors in her downline were health or physical education teachers. She now successfully targets a niche market of female physical education teachers who are married, have children, and are members of the same professional association.
Another way to identify a niche market is to work backward from the benefits you offer. Start by listing all the benefits provided by your product or service. Then list some of the characteristics of prospects whose current situation can be dramatically improved by those benefits. You should begin to see a narrowly defined group emerge as a niche market.
How specific is your target market? Can you develop sales messages so sharply focused your prospects believe you're talking specifically to them? If not, use the information in this article to help you find a niche market of your own. Then tailor your sales messages to the specific interests and needs of that niche market. You'll see an immediate increase in your sales and profits.
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