Here's one of many great financial tips: identify a target customer base and sell to them and you will make money. No one can market to everyone, but small businesses can get by perfectly well with a targeted niche demographic.
Don't worry, going after a specific segment of consumers does not lead to the exclusion of valuable customers, it just means that you are advertising effectively. This more affordable and efficient marketing process will ensure you get the most out of every dollar you spend on getting your brand out there. Once you've targeting a specific niche, it will be much easier to design cost-effective and powerful marketing campaigns.
There are a number of steps that you will have to take in order to identify your target market. Read the guidelines below to learn more:
1. Examine your product or service
First write down all the features of the catalog you're offering consumers, Inc. suggested. Who will benefit from the products or services that your small business provides? For example, a graphic designer offers individuals the advantage of a high-quality representation of their brand or product. This is still too general to be your target niche, but it is a great jumping off point. Once you have identified who's going to be interested in the range of services or products you provide, it is time to scrutinize the consumer segment a bit more thoroughly.
2. Break down the market with specific qualities
In order to define your target market, you will have to identify specific characteristics that make your customers yours. There are a number of qualities commonly used in order to determine your consumer's typical profile. You can break individuals down by demographic, in addition to personality. Specific demographic categories typically identified by businesses include age, gender, location, income level, family status and background. Inc. also suggested a number of personality traits you can identify, such as attitudes, values, hobbies and behavior, among others.
Nolo, a legal advice provider, explained that you can use these specific characteristics in order to create a customer profile. Is your ideal consumer a 16-year-old girl from the suburbs who works in the mall and enjoys scrapbooking? Advertising to her would be a more efficient way to spend your dollars than marketing to every girl between ages of 12 and 20. Once you have decided upon a target niche, you will have to examine the customer base you have identified and decide whether it is viable to market to these people.
3. The viability of your chosen market
Once you have specified a niche, you will need to ask a few questions regarding the segment of consumers you have chosen for your small business, according to Inc. While it is important to have a nice, you shouldn't allow your customer base to become to granular, you don't want to have a fan club of one person – The Flight of the Conchords have already proven it to be an ineffective model. If you determine that you target niche isn't large enough to effectively advertise and sell to on a daily basis, then try re-evaluating customers with a different set of criteria.
Use the above steps in order to define your target market. Figuring out who to sell to will be the difficult part. Once you have that down, the marketing plan will fall into place easily. You'll just need to turn to a financial services expert in order to figure out how to pay for it all.