Article Surfing Archive

This could be the single most important secret you ever learn about marketing. I know it was for me. I probably heard this particular gem of wisdom a few dozen times over the course of several years before I really 'got' it. And when I did, it changed my life.

This one secret is at the root of *all* marketing success - and failure - whether online or offline. Grasping it will *greatly* accelerate your progress and improve your financial status fast. Ignoring it will guarantee that you stay stuck in a rut. It's that powerful.

It's not what you think. Most people who are attracted to marketing start out by focusing all their energy on learning *techniques*. There's nothing wrong with learning marketing techniques. I'm always looking for new ways to improve my own marketing and - if I'm convinced of the value - I think nothing of jumping on a plane and flying half way around the world just to pick up an extra 'edge' that I didn't have before.

But technique alone is not enough. Not by a long shot.

You can buy every e-Book, purchase every home study course, attend every seminar, fill your home with books, hire the best consultants and coaches, but it's all for nothing if you ignore 'the secret.' In fact, knowing a lot of marketing techniques and not knowing 'the secret' can be downright dangerous to your financial, not to mention your mental, health.

Are your curious yet what 'the secret' is? Good!

Here it is and I hope you burn it into your brain because it will serve you over and over for the rest of your life and it very well could burst the seams of your bank account some day...The most important decision you'll ever make when starting a new business is not what product to sell, not what headline to use, not which super-duper Internet marketing technique to employ...it's this:

"The battle is won or lost on day one...when you pick your MARKET."

Successful marketing is not so much about the WHAT you market or the HOW you market as it is about WHO you sell to. If you get the WHO right, everything else will fall into place. If you don't, not even the greatest marketing in the world will help you. The 'WHO' is the market you choose to sell to.

And here's the rest of 'the secret'... "Some markets are hard and some markets are easy. If you want to make maximum money in minimum time, go after 'easy' markets." What do I mean by an 'easy' market?

'Easy' markets have the following three characteristics.

1. Easy to reach.
2. Have a burning 'need' for what you've got.
3. Have demonstrated through their past behavior, an ability and willingness to spend money on the kinds of things you plan to sell.

The closer the market you choose corresponds to this description, the 'easier' your life will be.

The wrong way. Many entrepreneurs - beginners *and* experienced ' get tripped up here. They create a product that they're sure the world will love. Or they hear that the Internet is a great marketing medium so invest in creating a super web site.

Both these approaches remind me of the old expression 'putting the cart before the horse.' The fanciest 'cart' on earth - the best product, the slickest web marketing campaign - won't get you anywhere without a good 'horse' to pull it. In contrast, with the right horse, you don't have to worry too much about the cart. Nature will take care of itself.

Richard Sears who started the famous Sears catalog and single-handedly kick-started the direct marketing and mail order industry over 100 years ago put it this way to a colleague once: "If it's the right offer to the right person at the right time, I can write it on the back of an old paper bag in crayon and it will sell."

That's how important picking the right market is. Now I'm not suggesting that you do your advertising on the back of old paper bags in crayon, but I am suggesting that you radically change your FOCUS.

By all means, continue to study marketing, but - starting right now, today - resolve to put at least half or more of your entrepreneurial time and energy into studying specific MARKETS. And while you're at it, look for 'easy' markets which means:

Groups of people who you can easily reach...who have a burning 'need' for what you sell...and who have already demonstrated the willingness and ability to buy the kinds of things you plan to sell to them.

I call it 'shooting fish in a barrel' marketing.