Focus Your Marketing Efforts

There are probably all kinds of people who could use what your small business is offering. Some probably need your products more than others. Some are willing to pay more and some less. Some are a good fit with your business and some are not. And you're probably trying to sell to all of them.

If that's you, this approach can certainly result in some success. You look at what you do especially well and then you sell that aspect of your business to anyone and everyone. Those who are looking for what you are selling, purchase from you and get a good deal. The rest of the effort is wasted.

A more efficient approach changes the focus from your business to your customers. Instead of asking what you do well, you ask what the various groups of customers want. In particular, you want to group your customers by the various characteristics that are of interest to your business and by what they value in your products.

Once you've done that, you look for a match between what the groups of customers value and the characteristics of your products and your business. If you specialize in quick delivery, you look for the group that values this characteristic the most; if your style is welcoming and informal, you try to identify which group would appreciate this style the most.

What you're looking for is the group of customers which best matches your business. You want to identify a group of customers which values the special characteristics of your products and your business more than any other group. That will be your primary target market and, once you've identified that group, you market mainly to them. Because this single group is much smaller than the broad customer base you were selling to before, your efforts can be much more concentrated and intensive. Less of this effort is wasted and the return on your marketing effort should rise.

Of course, the target group, by definition, is small and once you've exhausted its market potential, you might think you would be stuck. All you have to do before that happens, is to look for more groups with similar characteristics. In some cases, marketing to one group will make you aware of additional characteristics which might be a good fit and you can look for additional groups on that basis. If not, and if you can't come up with additional matching groups, you can subtly change your product, adding characteristics which might appeal to additional groups. You slightly re-position yourself to expand your market, being careful not to alienate the original group.

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