Marketing 101 - Who Is Your Target Market?

Marketing 101 - Who Is Your Target Market?

By Nikki Viljoen – N Viljoen Consulting (Pty) Ltd

Do you know who your target market is? Do you believe that your market is “everybody”?

I know that when I started out, I believed that ‘everybody on the planet’ was my target market – wrong, wrong, wrong! You see, whilst most people could certainly benefit from having and using my services and my products – many just didn’t want to or didn’t see the value add, or didn’t think that they needed it because they could fly below the radar, or they could do it themselves. So invariably the more I pushed for these people to buy into what I do and what I have for sale, the more they resisted and the more I struggled to sell.

This, for me, was a huge problem! I find it really difficult to understand why someone would not buy something that would actually assist them in saving money and headaches and time in the long run. Doesn’t make any kind of logical sense does it? Well it doesn’t to me and I have no doubt that on some level you would be the first to agree with me.

Thing is though, most people have a mind of their own and well ‘you can take a horse to water . . .’! On most levels I understand this, but the fear of losing someone who really should be a customer, drove me ever onwards to get them to buy! The result, well I lost them as potential customers – although in all honesty, when the brown smelly stuff hit the fan, there have been those that have come to me for help – too late to prevent the loss you understand, but well that was their choice now, wasn’t it?

So it took a while, but now I do understand that marketing to my clients is not exclusive, but inclusive.

So what does that mean exactly?

Well for me it means that instead of thinking that everybody needs a support group and I offer support and therefore they need me, I take it just a little bit further. I look at ‘why’ they need me. I look at what their ‘specific’ needs are as opposed to just their ‘general or generic’ needs.

Although most people have the same needs on many levels, they don’t want to ‘think’ that they are the same as everybody else – they are unique and therefore their problems and requirements are unique.

Get to know them, build relationships with them and find out what it is that they need and then you will be able to sell them what you have that they need or want.

Give them what they want/need/desire rather than want you want/need/desire to give them.

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or www.viljoenconsulting.co.za