Chapter 7
Target Market
Where are your customers?
No business can succeed without customers! If you're in the process of starting or growing your business, it can't hurt to set some time aside and really try to understand your audience and where they are. Before we begin, let's review the past few chapters. In Chapter 4, we identified the problem your product solves. But more importantly, we looked at the pain people feel as a result of that problem. It's the people who feel that pain who are ready to spend money.
In Chapter 5, we looked at the business model in slightly more philosophical terms. What exactly do you sell? Answering this question is important because a lot of businesses think they sell features. They don't. They sell benefits, sort of. They actually sell the emotional feeling people experience when they use the product. When marketing your product, don't communicate the features, at least not right at the beginning. Don't even focus on the benefits. That's not the most important thing. Tell people about the emotional feeling! That's what will motivate them to buy. In Chapter 6, we pulled it together and crafted a 30-second elevator pitch. This four-sentence pitch identifies who you are, what the problem is, how you solve the problem, what makes you different, and what people should do to take action.
Now, let's look at a few tools you can use to find your target market. Whether you want to market your product online or offline, the Internet provides some great ...
