Identifying Your Target Market

Your target market is looking for you - they just don't know it yet.

In order to help them find you, you need to understand who would be interested in your product or services. We sometimes hear our clients say they have no idea who will buy from them, or they assume that 'everyone' will be interested. Assumptions like this can lead to the wrong marketing strategy.

It is important to narrow down your target market to the group of people most likely to buy your product or service. While it is possible that a random person might come along and buy your product, it’s even more likely that someone who was targeted because there is some common ground between themselves and your product or service, would buy your product.

The task then becomes determining, as closely as possible, exactly who those people are, and 'targeting' your business's marketing efforts toward them.

In order to find these people you must first determine who they are. This might sound like a simple or perhaps insignificant question at first but it can possibly make or break the success of your sales if you don't give it some serious thought. Here's how to get started.

Think about the following and jot down the ones that might be interested in your products or services. Don't rule out any group completely. Think about each Select and how they might apply.

Consumers	Businesses
• Gender • Marital Status • Income Range • Occupation • Age Range • Homeowner / renter / 2nd home / timeshare owner • Type of car / boat / rv • Presence of children / Number of children / Ages of children • Donators / To what causes • Ailments • Interests / Hobbies / Subscribers to certain magazines	• Industry (see our SIC codes) • Specific Contact Title (decision makers, executives, IT) • Number of Employees • Head Office vs Regional Office • Independent vs Franchise • Annual Revenue Range • Sales Volume Range • Operating System • Seminar attendees

You should also consider the geography you want to target - country, state/province, SCF / FSA, city, zip/postal code, radius around a zip/postal code

And remember. Don't stop researching your target audience. Your marketing strategy should keep pace with change.

Contact Prospects Influential Inc. at 800 352 2282 and let one of our List Broker help you fine tune your Target Market.