To Have Success in Internet Marketing You Must First Make Your Target Market Selection

I work everyday with corporate professionals who are looking to leave their jobs and get into the internet marketing industry. Their first question is, “How do I get started?” The next question is, “How do I get prospects coming to me?”

Many have pieced together their own marketing strategy and put it into practice. But if they are not attracting leads, they need to go back to the drawing board.

So here is the first question you need to ask yourself. “What group of people are you marketing to? Have you made a target market selection?”

I was recently coaching a representative in a skin care business. I asked her who her target market was. She told me that everyone was her prospect. Everyone has skin.

A rep in this type of business would not be very successful with this type of marketing strategy. A much more targeted market is needed.

But it doesn’t work that way. For one thing, you must stand out in a crowd. If you are going after a huge market, you will find it very competitive. How will your prospect even find you? Just google “skin care products” and see how many pieces of marketing are out there - in the millions. You don’t have a chance.

Here is a second major point. If you are addressing a large market, how do you know what they are looking for?

If your products don’t satisfy their needs, they will look elsewhere.

Some may have an interest. But why in the world should they buy from you? Your ad is just like thousands of ads out there.

The prospects in your target market have specific needs. Your website or blog must address those needs, answer their specific questions, and solve their specific problem.

The skin care market consists of many target or niche markets. Your target market should be small enough so there is limited competition. On the other hand, it must be large enough to have income potential. For example, here are three target markets.

1. This group has not experienced success with skin care products they have purchased in the past. 2. This group needs answers to their specific skin condition concerns. 3. Baby boomers are seeking answers to questions about their aging skin. They want products that are scientifically proven to work for them.

It’s very important that you make a fairly narrow target market selection. Your marketing approach should be one of providing educational information. This doesn’t mean telling your prospects all that you know. It means answering the questions they have. What does this do for us?

First of all, you will find far less competition in a fairly narrow niche market.

A second thing is that you must know what the people in your niche market are trying to find.

What are their concerns? What are their needs? What are their problems? What are their fears? What keeps them up at night? What are their dreams?

Your marketing is all about addressing these questions, these problems, these wants and needs, and their dreams. How do you find out the deep-seated needs of your target market?

You need to find websites that attract people in your niche market. Message boards, forums, and blogs are great places to go to find out what the people in your market are asking. Search on Google or Yahoo for keywords related to your niche market. Find out what problems are being addressed, but more importantly, what areas are not being adequately addressed. Yes, I know. This takes a lot of time. But it will be worth the time it takes.

A great way to learn the needs of your potential customer is to ask them directly what problems they need to have solved.

In order to be successful, you must know exactly what your prospect wants and needs. If you address these wants and needs through educational marketing, you will attract them.

It’s very important that you provide solutions to your prospects’ problems. This type of educational marketing will attract the prospect to your blog or website.

Most likely, you will have several target markets during your career. My suggestion is to list 5-10 potential markets. Then do your research. Don’t take shortcuts.

Target market selection and research on that market are critical at this point. Determine the unanswered questions and unsolved problems for your market. Then provide these answers and solutions.

After making the proper target market selection, an entrepreneur’s next step is to attract leads online. Scott offers a free report on how to generate free, qualified leads on the internet.