Some Work at Home Moms have the wonderful advantage of a business education and background. Others of us have only a great desire to work at home and what we hope is a really good business idea. Do you ever feel like you've entered a race and the course is all uphill? Don't worry, it's not as frightful as it may look.

There are some business and marketing basics that you need to think through carefully and one is to identify and get to know your 'Target Market'. Simply put, the people who you want to sell your products to.

If you don't identify who you're going to sell to - you'll spend a lot of time running around in circles. It will be difficult to make decisions on just about anything - especially the copywriting for your website and advertising.

It would be great if the first step in your business development started with a Target Market - then you could brainstorm about what they need and want and come up with a product or service to market to them. But since you probably already have a product in mind, you have to work backwards.

Who needs this product? What need does it fulfill? Better yet, who WANTS this product?

It is important that you take this process seriously and resist the temptation to be go to shallow.

Someone who sells jewelry may say that their target market is women. But that's crazy. How do you write copy and craft advertising to reach all of the women in the whole world? Even if you narrow it down to American women who like to wear jewelry - you're still way too broad.

Do you think that Tiffany's and Clare's Boutique are both marketing

It's tough work determining a target market for some businesses. Staying on the topic of jewelry, yes, most women wear some jewelry - but dig deeper. Who wears your kind of jewelry?

Let's look at me. I wear some jewelry. I prefer silver. I don't like anything too big. I don't do dangly. And I'm cheap! I'm rough on stuff and refuse to pay very much for any one peice. So, if you're selling fine jewelry, am I your target market? Nope.

On the other hand, if you're selling costume jewelry that's big on looks and low on price - I'm your gal! I am your 'on a budget', 'not so stylish', 'sometimes impulsive when shopping' female target market.

When writing copy for me you'll want to focus on the great value I'm getting. Tell me how great I'm going to look for so little money. Tell me I'll look like I just left Tiffanys but my bill will look like I shopped at Kmart. Meet all my needs and push all my 'buy now' buttons.

So, knowing this... if you sell fairly expensive fine jewelry, should you be advertising on Mom sites that focus primarily on making money, saving money and being frugal? No - this would be a bad use of your advertising dollars.

Do you see how identifying your target market helps you to make decisions? While spotting the 'perfect ad spot' may be elusive, you will at least know how to spot the 'perfectly awful' ad opportunities.

Kelly McCausey is the host of Work at Home Moms Talk Radio (http://www.wahmtalkradio.com), the original internet radio program for internet based Moms. Visit the site for a new show every week.

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