By Michele Scism
The Results Lady

One of the hardest things to do when you start a new business is decide exactly who your ideal client or customer is.

I thought I would share an excerpt from my book “Makeover Your Business in 6 Weeks or Less” page 23-24.

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Simply stated your “target market” is another way of saying your “ideal customer”.  Why is it important to define your market?

–  By defining specifically who would best benefit from your services you can better use your marketing dollars

–  You can increase your conversion ratio – converting leads to buying customers

–  You can put extra cash in your pocket

I am betting that the last one got your attention.  Now, how do you define your target market?  Well in my business makeover course, www.BusinessMakeoverIntensive.com, we spend almost an hour defining our markets because it can get quite in depth.  For the sake of space and time here I will give you a quick overview.

To define your target market you should write down every aspect about your customer that you know.  Are they a certain age, gender, religion, race, where do they live, what type of work do they do, etc.  I have used the example of the business owner who sells anti-aging cream.

Well obviously anyone with skin would be a potential client.  However, if you know that only 1 in 50 men actually buy anti-aging cream and you also know that 1 in 10 women buy the same product then it is much smarter to focus on women.

Now take it a step further.  Back to our 1 in 10 women that purchase – what if that broke down to 80% of those buying being over the age of 30 and only 20% being under the age of 30.  Now you know you will have greater results if you market to women over the age of 30.  You could go on and on – where do they live, do they have a particular income level, are they married, do they have kids?

I know some of you are thinking that you don’t want to lose any of those other sales.  You will not lose them.  They will still come in and buy.  You are just trying to segment the market to determine where your marketing time and effort are better served.

Another example, my company, Decisive Minds, LLC, focuses on helping women business owners grow their businesses and make more money through education and boot camps.  My personal desire is to eradicate financial distress in all women’s lives.  However, I understand that I cannot be everything to all people so we focus on women who own their business and have owned it for at least two years.  These women also share other characteristics.  They are usually between the ages of 35 and 55, usually have children that are grown or almost grown and are actively searching for ways to expand their business.

So who is your target market?  IMPORTANT – write it down!

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I hope that you understand the importance of knowing your client and I am talking about really really really knowing – how do they think?  What charities do they support? Where do they shop?

To help you understand further I am excited to tell you that I will be interviewing Doug Doolan.  Doug and his partner Maria Alvira are the co-founders of Small Biz Break and are considered experts on how to discover breakthrough opportunities in your business.  Click here for more information on our interview!