When I talk about defining your target markets to many of my clients they’ll quite often say something like ‘my product or service is for everyone’. ‘Everyone needs it!’ ‘If you’ve got a pulse you can use it’. And I’m sure it’s true!

But, and it’s a big but…. you can not successfully market to everyone with a single message!

Determining and then defining your target market is your first job as a business owner. Most marketing experts and consultants tell you to niche yourself down to a specific market … and it is important and very valuable information. But before you niche, you want to be aware of everyone you can sell to in your market. This is called your Overall Target Market.

Once you’ve identified your OTM, your Overall Target Market, then you can look to identify your Ideal Target Markets.

Why is it important to define your markets?

Notice that I said markets. You may have 4, 5 or 6 well defined target markets. As I said earlier … you can not successfully market to everyone with a single message!

I’m pretty sure you’ll agree that you don’t market, say something like a gym membership, to a 25 year old female the same way you’d market it to a 45 year old male… even if the product or service is useful and relevant to them both.

That’s why it’s extremely important to establish an avatar or a visual representation for each of your markets.

It’s really not surprising that once you do this, once you envision who that person is, what they look like, what kind of car they drive, where they live, do they have kids, are they active, do they have a summer home, do they go south in the winter?

Once you see them … once you know them… once you understand them … you will be able to emotionally connect with them. 

That’s when you’ll be able to activate their emotional hot buttons and they will respond to you. And it won’t matter if it’s traditional advertising, online marketing or through social media. They will become part of your tribe and they will become your clients.

Defining your target markets is all part of the Know Your Client module in the 5 Essential Marketing Tools video series that you can access FREE of charge in the comment section below.

This is a short clip from the Know Your Client module.