A student in one of my seminars very bravely asked this question: "I'm spending a lot of time marketing, and I'm spending money on advertising, but I'm just not getting any results. What am I doing wrong?"

My first question took her by surprise: "Who is your perfect customer?"

Her reply: "Everybody needs my product."

My response: "Well, there's your problem." That took her even more by surprise!

I explained to her that even if everybody might benefit from her product, there was a certain kind of person that was predisposed to be more receptive to it and more inclined to buy. She could keep on going after a large market with a small message, but without the branding and budget of, say, Coca-Cola or McDonald's, she would have a hard time getting enough exposure and a compelling enough message to motivate anybody to buy.

See, the "law of large numbers" idea is a bit of a myth, because there is still a certain "minimum threshhold" that has to be crossed in order for people to buy. They have to have sufficient awareness and interest, and you have to have a strong enough message to motivate them to action. Repeat exposure (up to a point) is more important than the raw number of people you reach. And given a limited budget and bandwidth of you and your employees, you have to balance the two, not just go for the numbers.

I suggested to her a three-step process:

1. Write out a profile of her "perfect customer", i.e., those most likely to be interested in buying her product. What other products do they buy? What do they do for a living? What's their income level? Are they male or female? Young, old or somewhere in between? What do they do for fun?
2. What appeals to this person about your product or service? Now you can hone your message. What motivates this person? Health? Wealth? Beauty? Adventure? Relaxation? Now that you've narrowed it down, you can focus on a strong, simple message that appeals to this person.
3. Where can you reach this person? What periodicals do they read? Where do they go for fun? Do they attend business networking events, and if so, which ones? Where do they hang out online? Or do they just surf, and if so, where?

There's a lot more to niche marketing than just this, of course, but it's a good simple start to break you out of your mistaken belief that everybody will buy what you're selling once they learn about it and to help you focus on getting a stronger message across to a smaller number of people.

Learn more: Niche Marketing: Targeting the Best Prospects
Learn more: Defining Your Niche Market
Learn more: Niche Marketing vs. Mass Marketing