Who is Your Target Market? 1 - 2 - 3

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The success of your business depends on your customers, so before you start your business, you want to find out who your target market is, what they want and what will make them want to buy.

You can use online resources like FedStats, "Statistics of U.S. Businesses" from the Census Bureau and the Small Business Administration's Office of Economic Research to find out more about your target market.

You can also access lots of information at your local library, like the Lifestyle Market Analyst, the Marketers Guide to Media (published by Adweek), the Marketing List Source and the Official Guide to Household Spending.

Knowing how much money and free time your market has can help you determine how and where they prefer to shop. Understanding what your potential customers do in their spare time and their interests outside of work can give you great insight into what they really enjoy - and also how you might best reach them through advertising and marketing efforts.

A little time spent doing market research in advance can save you thousands of dollars in mis-spent advertising costs. Stepping inside your customers' shoes and finding out their thoughts and concerns can help you give them exactly what they want. This can give you a significant advantage on your business competitors. You've likely heard the famous quote by John Maxwell, "People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care."

Some of the questions you want to answer about your market:

1. Are you targeting retail, residential or commercial markets?
2. Are the people you are trying to reach male or female?
3. What is the average age of your target market?
4. What is their average family size?
5. What is the average income bracket?
6. Where does your target market congregate and where do they normally shop?
7. Where are they located geographically?
8. Do your potential customers live in apartments or houses or rural areas?
9. Which radio stations, tv shows and magazines do they get their information from?
10. What type of work do they do?
11. What are their interests outside of work?

Once you have a detailed and accurate description of your target market, you are ready to start on product development and ad campaigns that will match the interests and needs of your market.