We’re all told to know our customers.

A lot of people suggest building up an avatar of who we want to most attract – not a cartoon picture avatar but as close to a real description as possible. Age group, personal interests (not just in the niche we’re targeting), that kind of thing.

If you’ve got the patience to do that, it’s an excellent suggestion.

If you find the idea difficult or awkward, that’s OK (me too).

But you certainly need an idea of who you’re targeting.

If your answer is “everyone” then that’s too vague.

Apart from air and water, no product targets everyone.

Some of the most successful products only target a relatively small section of the population. If wander round a supermarket and go down aisles you normally never frequent, you’ll find large displays for products you’ve never heard of and would never buy. The same goes in any niche – it’s just easier to bring the idea home to your mind in a supermarket because it’s staring you in the face.

On the web, there are millions of niches that I can guarantee you’ve never heard of because you’ve never crossed their path or even thought to search for.

Out of those millions, there will be thousands that are highly profitable yet never get mentioned by anyone in internet marketing and, apart from the occasional conversation with friends, never really mentioned by the people who are interested in that niche. And they may not even mention the niche to friends if it’s too off the wall.

But if you were involved in that niche because it was your hobby, you’d know what the target market wanted and you’d be able to get some sales. Because you knew your target market.

That’s what knowing your customer is all about.

In internet marketing, I’m too old to be selling the “get rich before you finish skimming the sales letter” type of products. So my target customer base doesn’t include those kind of buyers – that’s one of the reasons I don’t promote some of the big product launches and why I generally avoid certain topics within the internet marketing arena.

You need to do the same with your niche.

Sit down and take the time to work out who you’re targeting.

Then target them.

Fine tune what you’re doing over the coming weeks and months.

Narrowing down who you’re targeting almost always pushes the price up.

Coca Cola is a low priced soft drink. Red Bull will have a slightly higher ingredient cost (but not much higher, it’s still mainly sugar water) but sells for a large premium. Smoothies – especially if they’re made in front of you – will go even higher in price. They’re all soft drinks but with different target markets and different market sizes and margins.

You can do the same in your niche.

But only if you know your customer.

Otherwise you’ll be groping around, hoping that your squeeze pages, emails, web pages and videos will work. You could strike lucky but I think it’s better to tilt the luck in your favour by knowing more about your potential customers.

Take 15 or 30 minutes to clarify who you’re targeting.

Then focus your marketing on them.

If it works, fine tune more if needed.

If you’re wide of the mark, consider what you’ve missed.

But whatever happens, do it.

And keep abreast of changes in your target market as well.

Because markets change over time and you don’t want to become too out of date.