Target Markets
Every single business has a target audience. Pet stores target pet owners--not pet haters; landscapers target homeowners with lawns, not apartment dwellers; and steakhouses target carnivores, not vegans.
Without fail, the makeup of a business audience looks like the target on a dartboard. The center of the target is tiny, the middle ring is a bit bigger, and the outer ring is enormous.
The center area of the target, sometimes called the bullseye, is worth the most "points". The business bullseye is, by far, the smallest segment--representing the fewest people--but is the most valuable.
The center segment represents the people who are most likely to buy, the people most ready to buy, and the people that will buy the largest amount.
Focus on the center
Aim your marketing efforts at the center of the bullseye. General messages delivered to a broad audience will not be as effective as specific messages to a small, high-value audience.
For example, running an ad that says "Cut grass faster with our new quad-blade lawnmower technology!" in Lawncare Magazine (readership 10,000) will be much more effective than running an ad that says "We sell lawnmowers!" in Big City News (readership 500,000).
Sure, a lot more people read Big City News than Lawncare. Sure, there may be a lot more potential lawnmower customers who read Big City News. Sure, you might be "getting your name out there."
But ask yourself... are they buying?