"Marketing Strategies from the Most Successful Small Businesses
in America"
Imagine practicing archery with your eyes closed or throwing a
football with a blindfold on. In both cases, being prevented
from seeing your target would make it nearly impossible to hit
it. This concept can easily be applied to business, as well.
Doing business without knowing what your target market is will
prevent you from reaching your objectives: increased sales,
market share or brand awareness.
Where the blanket approach of mass marketing was touted by
marketing professionals of years past, today's industry experts
are singing the praises of one-to-one, or relationship
marketing. And rightfully so. Today's consumers, as you've heard
many times, are savvier than ever before. With access to nearly
any piece of information they want via the Internet, consumers
don't want salespeople spouting off scripted presentations.
Rather, they need advocates who are willing to help them find
real solutions. How can you do that? By learning who your
customers are; by finding out their real needs; and by offering
them tailored products and services that work for them. The
first step in attaining those lofty goals is to choose a
customer base that is appropriate for your business.
Identify Potential Customers
There are two types of customer groups that you can target:
individual consumers or other businesses. Individual consumers
are somewhat more difficult to target because they are diverse
and unpredictable, they typically have small individual budgets,
and their buying preferences may change as they age. Businesses
as a target market tend to be fairly stable over time and have
large budgets to spend on various products and services.
It is not necessary to choose just one customer group. You may
choose to target both businesses and individual consumers if it
makes sense for your company. However, modifications may need to
be made for your product or service if you choose to go this
route. For example, the owner of a gift basket business may
target mostly individual consumers as her main source of
revenue, but have a secondary revenue stream from corporate
customers. For the individual consumers, she may offer many
customized options to satisfy their diverse tastes, and she
would probably charge a higher price to ensure a good profit
margin. For her corporate customers, she would likely offer a
more limited product line