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What do corporate professionals need to know when they leave their jobs and start an internet marketing business? They want to know how to start a business and how to attract prospects to them.

Some have already started their marketing campaign. But they are getting little response.

So here is the first question you need to ask yourself. “What group of people are you marketing to? Have you made a target market selection?”

I was recently coaching a representative in a skin care business. I asked her who her target market was. She told me that everyone was her prospect. Everyone has skin.

That distributor will have a very difficult time being successful marketing to that huge group of people. Finding a much smaller market is very important in order to attract prospects.

But it doesn’t work that way. For one thing, you must stand out in a crowd. If you are going after a huge market, you will find it very competitive. How will your prospect even find you? Just google “skin care products” and see how many pieces of marketing are out there – in the millions. You don’t have a chance.

Here’s another critical point. If you are targeting such a large market, this group of people has many different needs. But you don’t know what these specific needs are.

Your company may offer the greatest skin products ever invented. But if the your products don’t match your market’s needs, you won’t get a sale.

When your target market is large, there are many websites offering the same products as you. This strong competition reduces your chance of making a sale.

The prospects in your target market have specific needs. Your website or blog must address those needs, answer their specific questions, and solve their specific problem.

The general category, skin care products, can be broken down into much smaller niche markets. Just to give you an idea of what I am talking about, listed below are three target markets. For best results, they can be reduced even further.

1. This market has tried many skin care products that have failed to provide the results they are looking for. 2. This market consists of people who have a specific skin condition. They are looking for someone who understands their situation and can solve their problem. 3. This market consists of baby boomers. They are looking for products that can solve their aging skin problem. How do you stand out from all the other anti-aging skin products that are being promoted on the internet?

Obviously, you need to make a narrow target market selection in order to be successful. You must take an educational approach to your marketing – never promotional. What are we trying to accomplish here?

First of all, you will find far less competition in a fairly narrow niche market.

Second, you must determine exactly what your market is looking for.

What are their dreams? What are their questions? What are they searching for on the internet? What problems do that have that need to be solved? Do they lose sleep at night worrying about certain things?

Your marketing campaign and your blog or website should give your prospect the answers to their problems and questions. It should show that their dreams can be attained. Where do you go to find out the needs of your niche market?

You need to find websites that attract people in your niche market. Message boards, forums, and blogs are great places to go to find out what the people in your market are asking. Search on Google or Yahoo for keywords related to your niche market. Find out what problems are being addressed, but more importantly, what areas are not being adequately addressed. Yes, I know. This takes a lot of time. But it will be worth the time it takes.

Or you can go directly to a person in your target market and ask them these questions.

In order to be successful, you must know exactly what your prospect wants and needs. If you address these wants and needs through educational marketing, you will attract them.

It’s very important that you provide solutions to your prospects’ problems. This type of educational marketing will attract the prospect to your blog or website.

My recommendation is to list at 5 potential niche markets. Choose only one of these to be your first target market. The others on the list can be used as niche markets in the future.

Target market selection and research on that market are critical at this point. Determine the unanswered questions and unsolved problems for your market. Then provide these answers and solutions.

After making the proper target market selection, an entrepreneur’s next step is to attract online leads. Scott offers a free report on how to generate free, qualified leads on the internet.