Marketing Your Business Online—The Smart Way

Archive for February, 2009

Once you have defined “What is your business” the next question(s) you should answer is:
“Who Is Your Target Audience?”, or “Which is Your Target  Market?” or, “Which Is Your Niche?”

All these questions seek to achieve the same result; ie, to determine, to whom you are going to market. Why is target market so important? The main reason is that, you are in business to succeed and prosper. You don’t want to squander your valuable resources on thoughtless business ventures. Your business exists for a reason. It needs to differentiate itself from its competition in order to succeed. Hence you should be targeting your marketing efforts in segments where the competition is not overwhelming for your business to struggle to stay alive.
To illustrate this point, let us consider, an offline business,to sell bottled water to the general mass in the urban area. What are the chances for this business to succeed? Almost, invariably the answer will be practically nil. Why, because, in most countries, there are companies like Coca Cola and Pepsi, which have a widespread distribution of bottled water consumption with their own brands like Aquafina and Dasani. To compete in this market against these giants you require huge advertisement and sales promotion budgets. If you have that kind of money  you won’t be reading this post! If you are still keen on selling bottled water, then you should think of locating and focusing, on a narrow market, within the bottled water  niche

For example, instead of selling to the general mass, your target market for the bottled water can be physically active individuals who avoid thirst quenchers such as Gatorade when they exercise. Similarly, in the online world also, you need to market your business to your target audience.  For example, if your target market is individuals who are looking for ways to invest their money, you should not advertise in general news media such as CNN. Your marketing budget will be more effective if you spend your money in financial website such as Yahoo!

The online business world reflects the same trends as experienced in the offline world – often with faster turnover and startup rates. Those who promote a product or site that targets a small, select audience can tap into a market that is otherwise not being served. Despite the limitations of the client base, the targeted nature of the business creates a devoted and active market – the aim of any business.

That should sum up why you need to determine your target audience, or your niche, or your niche market, for successfully marketing your business online.

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