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Web Site Marketing
Strategies: Business Building Articles
Pick Your Niche Market
It's common
wisdom that all any service professional or
consultants needs to be successful is
"passion". Let it be known here that passion
alone can be overrated. When you're building
a practice, you need more than passion. You
need more than a high level of dedication and
energy to succeed. You need a plan. A
marketing plan with a marketing budget to be
exact.
Your plan should begin with a thorough
investigation into your target market.
- Who are your
customers?
- Who is the
competition?
- What
problems do they have?
- What
problems can you solve?
- Is someone
willing and able to write a check to hire
you to solve the above mentioned problems?
We've all seen
this scenario played out in some form in your
hometown. Typically, it begins as some
starry-eyed owner rents retail space. The
newly minted entrepreneur then spends his
capital on cash registers, inventory and store
signage. When it's time to open the doors to
the shop, the owner is tapped out. The new
business, struggling along on the thread bare
path of "word of mouth" waits impatiently as
bills mount and customers trickle in at a
painfully slow pace. Within a matter of
months, the newly opened store is finally
spending some money on marketing, only it's
being spent advertising a "Going Out Of
Business" sale.
Once you've
answered the questions above, you can
successfully pick your "niche" market. The
wonderful thing about niche markets is they
are tightly targeted. That means your
marketing dollars go further.
Marketing
is merely a matter of bringing the solutions
your target market is looking for to the
attention of those who will benefit the
most.
By defining those
who will benefit most from your goods or
services, you narrow your focus. Instead of
"spraying and praying" with your marketing
message, you're speaking directly to your
target audience. That cuts down considerably
on your overall marketing expenses.
Finally,
remember that marketing is not sales.
Marketing is focused on the sales you'll make
next quarter and beyond. In sales, the focus
is upon the sales to be made THIS quarter.
The most
essential key in marketing is to view the
process from the customer's point of view.
Defining a target audience is the first step
in the journey to marketing bliss!
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