In a time where our economy is struggling and businesses are trying to figure out how they will manage continued growth, it's encouraging to see there may be some bright signs among the gloomy predictions on which most media seem focused. A recent Internet Retailer article cites their belief that, despite other poor outlook forecasts, the online retail sales market will grow at a rate of 17% this year.  Working with many small businesses, I get to see this trend in action as they work to create or fortify their online positioning.  Those who have seen the highest returns, and will continue to do so, are the ones who take the time to correctly identify their target audience and their audience motivations.

Finding your target audience can be as easy as taking several customer service phone calls a day or acting as the business cashier. Strike up conversations with each buyer and find out what you can about them as individuals as well as shoppers. Summarize the information and create a personality for each different type of target audience.  You may arrive at two or three different targets.  I usually give the example of a photographic equipment store selling to both professionals and novices.  Each of their buyers "speaks" a different language, responds to different types of motivations and therefore requires different marketing. 

While having your conversations pay attention to the words used and find out where else they like to shop. You can use this information to craft a message that speaks to your target audience and find logical locations to place it to attract that particular audience. Putting an ad with multiple iterations of the same camera in "cool colors" and simple or "salesy" terms will completely miss the mark if it is shown on a website for professionals.  On the other hand, if the same ad is placed on a social Website, it will probably have better results.

Understanding your target audience and how they react will help you focus your advertising better and maximize results.