Every good business owner spends time trying to figure out how to be great. They spend thousands of dollars on seminars. They inherit mentors. They ask other business owners about their strategies. One strategy most learn is the need to approach every interaction with someone as a potential customer. But is this true? Is every individual you encounter going to do business with you?

When conducting market research, you will find that even the largest companies are aware that not everyone is a potential customer. And that’s okay. Have you ever heard of the phrase, “You can’t please everyone?” This is a statement that rings true in marketing. A good business owner will recognize that every company has a target audience. Once they discover who that audience is, a business will be sure to have a consistent client base.

How can you determine who your target audience is?

Start with your current client list.

Conduct an audit of previous customers. What kind of audience are they? From this list of individuals, you can study their likes, dislikes, where they frequent online, demographics, personal challenges, or accomplishments, the list goes on. As you gather information, you can create a character that represents that target audience.

What do you do when a target audience is established?

Shorten your task list.

Now that you know who you are looking for in a potential customer, you can narrow down marketing efforts. This will shorten your task list significantly. Instead, your time is invested in becoming an expert in your audience. Knowing their likes and dislikes will help you decide on unique marketing campaigns, sales, and services. You can get straight to the point from the view of a specific customer. You have the ability to create content that they are more likely to respond to. When speaking to them, you know the approach to take in order to start and maintain the conversation.

Become an expert.

Knowing your audience and investing time in researching them will provide you with the advantage of becoming an expert in your field. As an expert, you have the advantage of knowing what will sell well and what will flop. Knowing this can assist you in creating the appropriate strategies for competitive profits.

Being an expert allows you to think outside of the box. Smaller businesses can focus on finer detail than a larger company that basically generalizes their services. Having extra time on your hands will allow you to provide quality of service which always is better received than the quantity of service.

Grow with your customers.

The world changes drastically. That is why a business needs to be very consistent with the trends. One very reliable way of doing that is maintaining a close and intentional relationship with your target audience. When doing this, you will not only become an immense asset to your customers, but they will in turn help your business grow. In addition, it causes you as a business owner to stay focused and maintain a desire to care for your customers. When a business focuses on its clients/customers on an emotional level, they take very good care of them. Customers feel this. They crave it. Contrary to belief, there is still room for humanity in business!