Marketing's Not About You; It's About Them

"Great marketing to small business isn't about figuring out how an entrepreneur might use your product, it's about figuring out the entrepreneur himself. A business owner's habits, daily routines, and information sources are all prerequisites for your marketing campaign" (Warrillow Weekly News, July 7, 2009).

The writer of Warrillow's weekly newsletter is speaking of how small business owners in the finance and insurance industry differ from other small business owners when it comes to online learning.

Brokers and advisors are nearly twice as likely as the average small business owner (SBO) to participate in a webinar or online tutorial and attend online training at nearly triple the rate of the average entrepreneur, he or she says, and therefore, need a different marketing campaign than the average small business owner.

The point, however, certainly doesn't just apply to business to business marketing. No matter what you are selling, the first thing you need to do before anything else is "figure out the consumer" of your products and/or services. This is your target market and the more detailed your profile of your potential customers, the better chance you have of developing a marketing campaign that they're going to see and pay attention to.

Defining Your Target Market

• How To Find And Sell To Your Target Market explains how to use market segmentation to zero in on the folks who are most likely to buy from you.

• Writing the Market Analysis provides a research guide for working up a customer profile.

Image (c) Sami Sarkis / Getty Images

Follow Me on Twitter.