"Who's your target market?" asked the head buyer, quite justifiably.

"Everybody" came back the reply.

The sad thing is, I hear this time and time again in the small business world. If you run your own 'traditional' small business, then arguably anyone could be your customer. And in the network marketing world, we're told that everyone will benefit from our product, service or opportunity, so we must go and speak to all our friends, family, and everyone who comes into 3 foot of us, or who fogs a mirror (which, in my opinion, gives this industry a bad name).

The fact of the matter is that NOT EVERYBODY IS YOUR CUSTOMER OR PROSPECT! They *could* be. But they're not.

Get this drilled into your brain, and then take a deep sigh of relief.

You see, when you talk to people who have already raised their hands to say "Yes, I'm interested in your product X" or "Yes, I want to work with you in your business opportunity" (and yes it does happen I promise!) then network marketing is very definitely fun...and, let's face it, easy.

But, I hear you cry, how do I find all these people?

Well, they're not loitering around the frozen peas section in the supermarket waiting for you to pass by. But they are out there.

Your job is to learn to how to identify them, and ultimately where to find them. 'Them' being your target market.

Knowing precisely who your target market is, is the secret key that unlocks the mysteries of effectively growing your network marketing business.

Actually, it's not so much of a secret...it's standard practice in the marketing world to profile target markets. But it's something that is very rarely done in the small and home business world. So get right ahead of the game, and learn how to use this "secret".

So....Who is your target market? Who is it that buys your product or service, or is looking for your business opportunity?

The only way that you are going to find out who your target market is, is to carry out research. There are plenty of resources online as well as in places like your local library. In order to find out your target market you need to research your product. SO if you google, for instance, "skin care research", you will come up with a whole list of research documents related to skin care. You can certainly buy reports that will tell you exactly who your target market is, but if you have a limited budget, then you need to invest time instead. If you follow some of the links on the first two pages of Google, you'll find press releases and executive summaries of research reports, all released by research companies telling you what

kind of person buys the kind of product you've just googled.

To be successful in any business, you absolutely must spend some time profiling your target market fully. Make it your priority to find out who your target market is for your network marketing business.

Once you know WHO your target market is, you can find out exactly WHERE they are.

And once you find out where they are, marketing to these people, and ultimately talking directly to interested people who want to know about you, your product/service, or business opportunity, becomes very simple.

So, working on finding out who your target market is should be one of the very first things you do with your business. It's absolutely critical to your business success. In fact, ANY business' success, not just in network marketing. If you want to open the door to success in your business, then you probably need a key.

This is it.

Speak to any professional marketer about marketing a product or service, and the first thing that they will ask you is: "Who's your target market?".

And you'd better not answer "Everybody"!