I was talking with someone the other day that said something that brought our conversation to an abrupt halt and I realized that you guys might find this useful…

The conversation went something like this:

me: “so, who do you go after?” (in context I was asking him about his business’ target market)

person: “we target small business owners.”

me: “really? let me know when you find any of those”

person: ::confused look::

I had to explain myself, of course. What I said was, there’s no such thing as a target market for small business owners. That’s like saying, “we target people ages 15-60″ or “we target big companies”.

I corrected him. I explained that he really targeted: florists, dry cleaners, consultants, lawn care services, CPAs, bicycle repair shops, heating and air conditioning repair shops, message therapists, pest control services, pet grooming services, bridal stores, carpet cleaners…at which point we stopped me from rattling off more

The point is that until you see your market in specific enough terms, you’re never going to reach them. I explained that holding onto this notion of marketing to small business owners was like taking a shot in the dark.

Welcome back again!