For any industry, not knowing who your target market is and what they want is like doing business in the dark. You must determine who you will be marketing to or attempting to “connect with” before you decide what message you want to send.

Start by asking “Who is likely to buy my product or service?” and avoid telling yourself that “anyone might buy my product or service.” It’s true that anyone might do business with you, but crucial that you define who is most likely to. The more targeted you can be, the better. Think of customer characteristics such as age, income, education, marital status, employment, buying habits, lifestyle characteristics, and location.

The next step is to determine which of your target customers are “in market”. In other words, you must figure out which of these people are shopping around for your product or service but have not yet made a decision on what exactly to buy or who to buy from. A large majority of small to midsized business marketing is missing this point entirely!

Ultimately who you think you should be marketing to and who you actually should be marketing to could be two drastically different things. And if you don’t get this right, you are potentially leaving a ton of missed opportunities on the table.

To further refine your marketing, you must determine what need your target market is looking to fulfill. Besides studying your market and your customers, study your competitors and your competitors’ customers. Observe and ask questions. Find out what customers will respond to as it relates to your product or service.

Five Keys to Reaching “In Market” Customers

• Identify what it means for your customer to be “in market”
• Figure out what is most important to them
• Determine what would motivate them to make a buying decision
• Craft a strategy to reach out, engage and connect with these customers
• Implement a strategic marketing funnel and plan to close the sale

Once you determine what’s important to your target market, be prepared to “talk” to them about it. Develop a message that reflects their needs and priorities. In your research, for example, you may have identified numerous qualities or features of significance. Rank these, and focus on the two or three most important motivators to develop a theme for communication with your market.

Develop a comprehensive digital marketing strategy in order to be in front of these customers when they are “in market”. Use tools like social media, search engine marketing and optimization to ensure your company is always top of mind in the mind of your prospective customer. Because when they finally transition to “out of market” you want to be the one that was there at the moment of purchase intent to capitalize on the opportunity and ultimately make the sale.