Creating marketing magic begins with identifying your target market.

Marketing is merely the process of bringing the solutions you offer to your selected target audience. It’s just that simple.

When you were a child, perhaps you passed away the lazy days of summer as I did and indulged in the sport of drowning worms. I could call it “fishing” but that would denote a level of success that I was never able to achieve. In my attempt to catch fish, I would take a fishing rod and reel - equipped with little more than a hook and a bobber - down to a creek behind our house. As I made my way to the creek, I dug up a few worms, and when I arrived at the water’s edge I impaled the unlucky creatures on my hook and tossed the line into the creek with great expectations.

Looking back, I can see that because my goal was to catch “anything,” the only fish I ever caught were either carp or catfish and I didn’t catch those very often. I knew that the creek that ran behind my childhood home was teaming with blue gill, bass and other “desirable” fish. I knew because I saw other anglers stand in the very spot I did and catch those very fish. However, despite my good intentions and all of my efforts, the best I ever caught was an occasional carp or catfish.

Years later, I can see that the reason I was catching these “bottom feeders” is that I had my hook lying on the bottom of the creek. The anglers who were bringing in the fish I desired weren’t using the huge hook I was using, nor were they using earthworms for bait. (Nor, for that matter, were they using an oversized orange bobber!) In my youthful exuberance, I had over-estimated the depth of the waters and seriously over-estimated the mouths of the creek’s “desirable” fish. No matter how noble my goals, I was not fishing with the proper bait and tackle, so I could not catch the fish I desired.

Experienced anglers know that choosing the proper tackle is essential before you begin to fish. You have to know what you’re fishing for, because that determines everything else. By the time an angler picks a target, s/he will have made many decisions well in advance.

The first choice is whether to fish in fresh water or salt water. From there, the angler will choose the weight of the line, the type of bait and the size of the hook. If you want to be successful in fishing, you have to choose your target in advance.

Whether it’s fishing or marketing, you greatly increase your chances of success by defining your target in advance.

Just as in fishing, when you choose in advance the target audience for your marketing message, you increase your chances of success. Anglers go to great lengths to figure out what particular species of fish like to eat and where they eat it. You need to know what your customers “eat” and where they eat it. You also want to know what they listen to, watch and read.

Identifying your target audience is essential to creating marketing messages that are clear and compelling. Indeed, there is no easier way to generate confusion with your marketing message than to try to cast your net broadly over a wide assortment of solutions. If you believe nothing else, believe that a confused mind says “no” and offering information that your target audience doesn’t want or need will create confusion.