It is a common lament I hear from people – "I want to get in front of customers, not in front of competitors."

Take associations/networking groups for example.  It could be easy to find a group where your competitors or peers hang out.  But what about your customers- where do they hang out?

An even better question:

Does Your Target Market Know You Exist?

To test this, try this exercise:

1.       List your target market. 

a.       What industry? 

b.      What size of company? 

c.       Who is the decision maker that you want to reach? 

d.      What geographic area?

2.       How large is your target market?

a.       How many companies are in this market?

3.       How many of them know you exist?

4.       What is your share of mind?

a.       Number of prospects that know you versus your total market?

How did you make out?  If you are like most companies, it could be a pretty low ratio.

If they don’t know you exist, how will they buy from you?

If you want to up your share of mind, consider this:

1.       Where does your target customer hang out?

2.       What publications do they read?

3.       Where do they go online?

4.       What newsletters are they likely to look at, including online?

5.       When they search the Internet for a need, how do they search?

6.       Who do they listen to as referral sources?

Sure you can network and that is good, but it is a slow build.  Meanwhile there are customers out there looking to buy just what you offer. 

Go through these questions and you just might an idea on how to jumpstart your share of mind.  Getting people coming to you is the best marketing.  But they won’t come if they don’t know you exist.

                                                          
                                                                     (fickr photo from  jjelenbaas)