As amazing as it may seem, many people who have decided to open their own business forget what should be the most important part of their plan, exactly how they will get their customers. No new business can depend on customers just finding them.
In the real world, you are going to have to fight for every customer you have. Even if you offer something a little different than everyone else, you will still have to convince people to buy. Maybe you will have a better selection of products, or even the enviable position of no competition at all. It does not matter; you will still have to convince people to buy what you are selling.
The first step in convincing people to buy from you is to identify exactly who they are and then formulate a plan to show how they will benefit from whatever it is you offer. Sounds simple, right?
Begin to identify your customers by listing every type of person who might be interested in your product or service. Do not worry about how you will attract them at this point, just list everyone who could possibly want or need what you sell.
Next, you will want to break your list into as many groups as necessary. Some examples of these groups would include, male, female, Spanish-speaking, age, income level, education level, profession, married, single, divorced, and on and on. You have to do this because it often takes a different strategy to market to each group.
By identifying your potential customers, you can focus on the marketing strategies that will give you the best return on your investment. For example, if your store will sell used electronics and you have good reason to believe that ninety percent of your customers are nineteen to twenty-eight year old males, then you will want to spend almost all of your marketing dollars in ways that will be seen by this demographic.
If you had not narrowed your likely customer profile down you might have been tempted to spend money advertising in a local newspaper, for instance; a medium almost none of your target market will see.
Knowing who you will sell to always comes before how you will sell it to them and the best time to figure this out is before you even get started. Take the time and make the effort, it might mean the difference between success and failure.