Small Business Advertising: Why You Need To Target Your Message

One of the biggest mistakes in small business advertising, is thinking that your business and advertising message will appeal to everyone. The fact is that when you try to advertise to everybody, you effectively advertising to nobody. Advertising messages that focuses on everyone are typically too watered down or even confusing for maximum impact. However, by pinpointing your target audience, you can be far more effective at connecting them through a relevant message that speaks to their pains and needs.When targeting a specific audience, you want to take time to identify your ideal prospects. That is to say that you want to determine the characteristics of the people who you believe are most likely to buy your product or service. These characteristics, which are often called a "Customer Avatar," are vital when you are trying to sell your product a group or people. Age, gender, ethnic group, geographical location and income level are just some of the characteristics that advertising agencies and companies focus on.Let's say you are selling athletic footwear. Different people might be interested in your products for different reasons. Some may be professional or competitive athletes, and are looking for the latest technological advances to help them compete. Others may be people who regularly exercise, and need good quality footwear for their workout. And still others may be simply looking for comfort or style in their purchase. That's at least four different target markets we've just discussed.So how do you figure out the message that's going to be most effective at selling your footwear? Clearly one advertising campaign will not speak to all of these groups. That's why it's smart to determine which of the ones listed is the right target market to priorities for your business, and develop a campaign around their story and their needs.


Let's say, using the athletic footwear example above, that we decide to target people who exercise regularly. A message that addresses their desire to have high quality footwear to use during their workout routine will be far more powerful than one that says, simply "we sell great shoes." The more focused your message, the more success you will have in having your message resonate with the people you are trying to reach. And the better chance you will have at converting these prospects into customers.So as you are considering your next advertising campaign, take time to think about who you are trying to reach with your message. Look to what you've done in the past, and, if necessary, fine tune it to better reach those who are a) most likely to buy, b) would make for the most ideal customers, and c) have the best chance of coming back for more in the future.Of course knowing how to target properly is just one part of creating effective advertising campaign. For a complete introduction to 7 mistakes most local businesses make in their advertising... and how you can avoid them, download my free report at http://baeronmarketing.com/7mistakes. Remember that targeting the right audience is a vital part of building your businesses through your advertising. Don't overlook the power of this simple concept in your next ad campaign.