Determining your target market and why they would purchase from you is one of the basics in the business planning process. While it may sound simple, do you really know who your customers are and what you have to offer?

Is the market you’re serving the right one for your service or product?

Are you getting what you are hoping for? If you are not sure about the answers to these questions, then you have to review your business plan. How do you determine the best target market niche for your business? Read and apply these tips.

• What are you selling? More than just a service or product, what are you offering? . Let’s say you have a restaurant.  The area your restaurant is in may have competing restaurants. One probably sells pizza and another offers drive-thru fast food. While these restaurants offer meals, they sell them to targeted customers that are seeking the benefits each has to provide. The combination of brand experience, value, product and ambiance is what these restaurants really offer. If McDonald’s was only interested in selling food then you would find frozen Big Macs in the frozen food isle of your local supermarket.   They sell an experience as well as the food.

• Use a strategy to focus on what you have to offer. One of the downsides of not defining what you can offer is that you can become a jack of all trades, which can have a negative effect on the growth of your business. By becoming a jack of all trades, you master none at all. Specializing in one or two things would earn you more, polish up your marketing efforts and help you build a reputation in your industry. This is also the reason why a strategy is needed. It will keep you focused.

• Making a niche for your business is important to success. Once you find it, play your strengths in that niche. For instance, if you are a freelance writer, why not pick a niche that you specialize in.   Writing for Online Marketers is different than writing for an Industrial Supply Company.   Do you like long sales pages or technical papers?   Pick a niche market that you are passionate about and then dominate it.

Your marketing becomes more effective if you are focused on on a particular niche.

Upstream Marketing was developed to reach the niche of website design for Industrial Companies.  There are thousands of web designers and web design companies on Houston.  We decided to niche our business and focus on the Industrial Sector.

Now, we  do design websites for businesses and associations outside of the Industrial Sectorr B2C websites.  As one of my retail clients said “If you can make Oil & Gas look sexy, I know you can do it for our Med Spa”.

So, ask yourself who is the target market for your business?