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How_To_Target_Your_Market
| How To Target Your Market
Stop!
If you even the slightest thought of selling anything online,
you must be able to answer one question before you do anything...
Who wants to buy your product or service?
If you're going to sell, there has to be a market that will buy,
it's an irrefutable law of business and it applies to online
businesses as well.
"Catering to a niche" or "specializing" or "targeting a market,"
whatever you call it, it's the key to a small business
succeeding on the Internet.
Let Amazon or Ebay sell everything to everyone. Small online
businesses target a few select markets and give those markets
the special attention that only small businesses can give.
Find Your Markets
First, you should just ask yourself the question I posed
earlier, "Who wants to buy my product or service?"
Most small businesses know their market well; they just have to
think about it for a second.
For example, let's take web design. We start by making of list
of anyone that might need web design:
* Individuals * Churches * Schools * Small Businesses * Large
Businesses * Etc.
Target Your Markets
When you look at that small list, you start to realize that each
market has it's own needs, budget, and reason for needing web
design.
For example, imagine the difference between web design for large
corporate businesses and web design for schools.
Large businesses will probably be looking for an ecommerce
solution and they have the budget to afford a team of designers.
You would need to target them with this in mind.
Schools on the other hand, do not need ecommerce. They are
looking for a way to inform the community about what is
happening at their school. They might also want to incorporate a
webmail system for the students and faculty. Overall, large
businesses will need a more professional approach than schools.
The point is, each market deserves special attention. You can't
compromise between your markets. Instead you must target each
market individually.
What Does My Market Need?
Let's say we decided on small businesses as one of our key
markets. How do we know what they need?
You can start with some common sense. Small businesses are going
to be price conscious, but expect quality. You will most likely
be dealing with the owner or someone close to the owner. You
basically just want to think about who your customer really is.
An optional next step is to actually ask. Find some people who
represent your target market and just ask them what is important
to them.
Just imagine a visitor arriving at your web site and instantly
knowing that you can help him. If you have correctly targeted
the right markets, your visitors will feel like you are in tune
with their needs.
About the author:
* Article © JC Anderl - Ask JC a question about web hosting or
online business and he'll answer you personally. Visit
http://www.business-web-hosting-guide.com for more online
business articles, free software, a web hosting dictionary, and
personal assistance.
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