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You're just starting your own business and have that "special" product that YOU think will be the best selling product on the market. You know as you begin writing your advertisements and sales letters that this is the one that is going to make you millions and you can hardly keep your excitement under control. The time is getting near and you know this is it. You place your advertisements all over online and you're thinking you might have to hire someone to help with all the responses and orders you're going to get... then nothing happens! You're confused, you're bewildered! What's happening? You have a great product, your advertisements and sales letters are great, but you're not getting any responses to your advertising. Now the realization begins to set in that maybe the product just wasn't good enough, or the price was all wrong, or maybe your advertisements need some work. So you change your price and re-write the advertisements and do it again. The results are the same, nothing! Now you're getting mad because nothing is happening, you're not making any sales and then you're out of business, not even knowing why or what happened! So you blame it on the product. This scenario happens everyday in online marketing.. and the culprit is always the product... I'm here to tell you that's WRONG! The most common reason for the failure of online businesses is because they just don't take the time or don't know how to " TARGET THEIR MARKET!" I've talked with quite a few online business owners who've failed, including myself (more than I care to count), and when I ask them "Who Is Their Target Market", they begin to give some general, non-specific answers and are very evasive about answering the question. This is the culprit for their failure and they are doomed to repeat this failure time and time again if they don't "Learn How To Target Their Market!" So let's take a few minutes and talk about Targeting Your Market because it means the success or failure of your online business. One of the most common things you hear in the online marketing world is that you can "Reach Millions of Potential Customers on the Internet", which is true in the sense that millions can receive your online marketing, but in reality, you want to "Reach Your Target Market" with your online marketing! There is a very big difference here. Why would you want to market to millions who aren't interested in the least bit in your product? I've never been able to figure that one out! In Order For Your Online Business To Have A Good Shot At Success... You Need To Know How To Reach Your Target Market! HOW TO FIGURE OUT YOUR TARGET MARKET For example: Your product is web promotion software. You might want to make your target market anyone who has a web site because they will probably want to promote their web site online and your product will help them do just that! However, there are quite a few who have web sites that don’t want to promote their web sites. So you might want to focus on commercial web sites and even narrow it down to what size businesses you’re looking to market to. Get the idea, you want to think about your target market for awhile before you begin your online marketing so you don’t waste your valuable resources and give your product the best chance of creating profits for you and more importantly, surviving online. So how to you go about figuring out your target market and making sure the focus is just right? Step 1. What Does Your Product Do? (A Self Questionnaire) The first thing you want to accomplish is to find out "What Kind Of Benefits Your Product Offers Potential Customers", hence, the title of this step. You want to notice I didn’t say "What are the Features of you Product!" Big difference. You want benefits that your product will offer your potential customers. Make sure you do this step by yourself so you can begin to focus on your product, it’s benefits and your target market. Make sure you can come up with about 3 major benefits your product offers potential customers. Step 2. What Does Your Product Do? (Soliciting Outside Feedback) Now you want to repeat Step 1 but this time solicit outside feedback. You can get this feedback in a number of ways, but make sure the feedback you are getting is of value. Make sure you ask questions that will tell you what they think about your product, what is the major benefits, what they like/dislike about your product, what should it sell for, and who would buy it. Step 3. Compare The Two Sources. Now you want to compare your own survey with the feedback you received from Step 2. This might be an eye opener for some and others might hit it right on the head. Evaluate both responses to make sure what you think is what others will also think. Now you should have a pretty good idea of the benefits of your product and who would be interested in it. Step 4. Take Those Benefits & Determine Who Needs Them. Now your ready to determine your Target Market. Take the benefits and decide on who would be best served by those benefits and you’ve just figured out your Target Market. Once you think you have that done, see if you can narrow the focus just a bit. Remember the example above? Commercial web sites would be a very good choice as a target market but you might want to consider narrowing the focus to small businesses. Now that your Target Market is identified and your focus is just right, it’ s time to move on. Step 5. Where Does My Target Market Hang Out Online? Now that everything is set, you need to find out Where Your Target Market Hangs Out! A good place to start is with the Search Engines. These will begin to show you where and more important, how many places online cater to your Target Market. You'll then begin to find those newsgroups, newsletters, web sites, or forums that possibly cater to your target market. Once you find these spots, you can begin to advertise on those mediums and depending on your advertisements and sales letters, you should be on your way to making sales. Step 6. Remember To Do Some Testing For The Best Response Rates. You may or may not achieve the response rates to your advertising that you expected, so make sure you test the different parts of your advertisement and sales letters to get the maximum responses. Since you've got your market targeted correctly, your main focus now is on how to get those prospects turned into your customers. Once you hit the right buying buttons, your sales and profits will explode. Remember, your online marketing key to success is to narrow your focus as much as possible and really work at " TARGETing Your Market" to ensure you're not wasting your time, effort and resources trying to "Sell Ice To Eskimo's." If you miss on the Target Market you'll probably also miss on the success of your product and business without even giving it a real shot. Terry Williams, the publisher of "Internet Marketing Issues", publishes a Free Weekly Ezine that provides online marketing tips, techniques and secrets that will explode your online profits. You're invited to learn all about the latest in online marketing and see why over 1000 subscribers in 10 countries around the world rely on the information provided in IMI for their online business marketing needs. For a free subscription, Sub-IMI@intersuccess.com or check out his current issue at
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