When defining your target market, consider the long-standing principal of supply and demand. Do you want to go broad and target a large audience with stiff competition? Or, do you want to target a small audience with very little competition?
Small businesses and start-ups often use the shotgun approach, trying to target everyone. However, selecting narrower niche markets is often more lucrative, offering a rich source for ready-to-buy prospects.
If you’re interested in seeing supply and demand in action, check out Google’s free keyword tool at https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal.
By using this tool, you can easily gauge the online supply and demand for any potential product or service. Here’s how:
Enter a keyword or phrase (your product or service) to see the search volume online each month. The search columns reflect the demand, showing the number of search queries in Google matching each keyword result.
The competition column is a good indicator of supply, showing the number of advertisers bidding on each keyword relative to all keywords across Google. For example, the keyword “Marketing” generates very high search volume and very high advertiser competition. With the term “insurance sales marketing,” the demand is considerably less and so is the advertising competition.
By evaluating supply and demand before defining your audience, you’ll avoid expensive mistakes. Once you identify a high demand/low supply segment, you can easily craft a tailored, differentiated offering that attracts leads.
