If you are in the process of starting a business from the ground up, you may be struggling with exactly how to market your business to consumers. Nowadays, many consumers are heading online to do their shopping in order to avoid the crowds, save gas, and, of course, to save time.
Before you set out marketing your business, you need to figure out exactly who you are marketing to, so you can figure out the best marketing steps to take. There are a few steps you can take in identifying your target market.
- First of all, you need to make sure your product caters to a certain market. Refine it so that your product is a specialty product – not a “catch-all” product that can be marketed to all demographics. You want to cast your net in a specific target market, not just throwing it about and hoping that you will catch a fish. You can also find out who your future customers are by taking a look at your current customer base. If you find that the majority of your clients are young professionals, you may want to market less to the older generations.
- Take a look at your competition. Who are they marketing to, and what products are they promoting the most? This can give you a good insight as to what your product is all about.
- After you have defined exactly what your product does or is and you have a good idea of who you plan on marketing to, you will need to take a look at your product’s purpose. Consumers purchase goods and services to do one of three things:
- To satisfy a basic need
- To solve a problem
- To make themselves feel good
- Your product may have more than one purpose – like a carpenter who can fix basic home problems and construct new decorative pieces, for example. That’s okay, as long as you have a defined strategy on how you want to market both.
- After you have become an expert in your product, you will want to then decide how to best zero in to your target market. Are you trying to market your product nationally or locally? Are you okay with shipping your item, or are you wanting to remain focused in the local community? If you are a business that is unable to ship its products, you will want to focus on local websites in order to market to local consumers.
