Your target market is the group of people or companies to which your organization aims to sell its products or services. Well, you say, I want to sell to everyone. Why should I pick just one group?

There's an old marketing saying that goes like this "Target everyone and you target no one". Nothing is truer. How can you develop effective marketing strategies and tools without knowing who you're talking to?

Let me explain with a short story. Take two hunters; one has a shotgun, the other a rifle. They're both hungry and they're both thinking duck al'orange for supper. Now, I know you don't normally use a rifle for hunting duck, but this guy does, and who knows why.

Anyway, the ducks fly over the blind, and the guy with the shotgun jumps up and shoots wildly at the whole bunch. He figures hes got a shotgun; he should be able to hit one of them. But he hasn't waited until he sees them and he's shot too soon. He completely misses the whole bunch, and the ducks veer off towards the hunter with the rifle.

The guy with the rifle (who's seen the whole thing and is laughing to himself) stands quietly watching them fly overhead. He sites the biggest, fattest duck in his scope, holds his breath and fires. He can't miss, and he gets to eat duck al'orange for supper that night, while the guy with the shotgun goes hungry.

You can think of your marketing the same way. If you just fire wildly at the whole market using a shot-gun effect, you're liable to miss everyone. But if you research your target market and take aim at it with carefully thought-out marketing strategies, you're liable to hit your target again and again.

Does it make more sense to you to fire wildly at the whole bunch, taking the chance youre going to hit something or to take careful aim, one shot at a time? Sure, your target is smaller, but every shot is going to count! Which means, the chances of hitting your target are that much greater.

So how do you go about defining your target market?

You could start by asking questions. Brainstorm. Talk to friends, family, neighbors. Are they interested in your product or service? Would they buy it? Why or why not?

Whether your target market is business to consumer, or business to business, youll want to know who your best target is. Get down to the bare-bone details. Who exactly is your target market? You want to know them well.

If your business has a consumer target market, youll want to know:

• Are they women, men or both?
• How much money do they earn?
• What do they do for a living?
• What level of education do they have?
• How do they spend their extra cash
• Are they married, single, divorced?
• Do they have children?
• What kind of lifestyle do they lead?
• What are their attitudes and beliefs
• What are their interests?

And, if your target market is business to business youll want to know at least:

• Type of industry
• Annual sales
• Number of employees
• Whether theyre stable
• Their location
• Whether their business is seasonal
• Who makes the decisions

Once youve finished your research, you should have a good idea who your target market is. You might even want to go one step further and write a statement defining your ideal target market client.

Heres an example for a weight loss product. Our typical client is a young, married mother in her late twenties to mid thirties looking to lose post-pregnancy weight gain.

Good luck finding your target market. Itll help you identify marketing strategies that will work, and itll focus your marketing message because youll know exactly who youre talking to.