Marketing: First Things First 

"The battle is won or lost on day one...when you pick your MARKET."

Successful marketing is not so much about WHAT you or HOW you market as it is about WHO you sell to. If you get the WHO right, everything else will fall into place. If you don't, not even the greatest marketing in the world will help you. The 'WHO' is the market you choose to sell to. And here's the rest of 'the secret'... "Some markets are hard and some markets are easy. If you want to make maximum money in minimum time go after 'easy' markets.  "What do I mean by an 'easy' market? --- 'Easy' markets defined 'Easy' markets have the following three characteristics.

3) Have demonstrated through their past behavior an ability and willingness to spend money on the kinds of things you plan to sell. 

The closer the market you choose corresponds to this description, the 'easier' your life will be.

Many entrepreneurs - beginners *and* experienced - get tripped up here.

They create a product that they're sure the world will love...

Or they hear that the Internet is a great marketing medium so they invest in creating a super web site...

Both these approaches remind me of the old expression 'putting the cart before the horse.' The fanciest 'cart' on earth - the best product, the slickest web marketing campaign - won't get you anywhere without a good market 'horse' to pull it.

In contrast, with the right horse, you don't have to worry too much about the cart. Nature will take care of itself. Richard Sears who started the famous Sears catalog and single-handedly kick-started the direct marketing and mail order industry over 100 years ago put it this way to a colleague once:

"If it's the right offer to the right person at the right time, I can write it on the back of an old paper bag in crayon and it will sell."

Now I'm not suggesting that you do your advertising on the back of old paper bags in crayon, but I am suggesting that you radically change your FOCUS. By all means, continue to study marketing, but - starting right now, today - resolve to put at least half or more of your entrepreneurial time and energy into studying specific MARKETS.

And while you're at it, look for 'easy' markets which means: Groups of people who you can easily reach...who have a burning 'need' for what you sell...and who have already demonstrated the willingness and ability to buy the kinds of things you plan to sell to them. I call it 'shooting fish in a barrel' marketing.