Smaller Targets, Better Hits in Blogging for Business

“No business can be all things to all people. The more narrowly you can define your target
market, the better,” according to Entrepreneur. com. “Rather than creating a niche, many
entrepreneurs make the mistake of falling into the ‘all over the map’ trap”, ” the authors continue.
In fact, they advise, these days the trend is toward smaller niches.

In a way, business blogs are the perfect marketing tool for niche markets. Remember that  you, the business owner, are not going out to find customer through your blog content. Blogs
work the other way around, through “pull marketing”. The people who find your blog are those  who are already online looking for information, products, or services that relate to what you
know, what you have, and what you do!

The other day I came across an excellent example of targeting a niche within a niche. AARP
Magazine had a full page article called “In Your 50s: 3 Supplements to Take Now”. Just think
about that for a moment. AARP is an organization for seniors, and today their magazine is
enjoyed by readers in their 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s, not just their 50s. But in that issue, the focus
was on one niche within their readership.

Do you suppose the AARP editors worried about “turning off” the other 4/5 of their reader
demographic? Not at all. Those readers will expect to have their needs discussed in another
issue of the magazine.

In fact, that’s what I love most about blogging as a communications channel. Each post
can have a razor-sharp focus on just one story, one idea, one aspect of your business.
Other important things you want to discuss? Other segments of your market you want to
address? There will always be later blog posts!

Blogs are smaller, shorter and more centered around just one idea than e-zines or newsletters
or even web page content. And blog posts will stick around forever. Blogs can link to other blogs
and web sites, turning mini-power into maxi-power, and increasing exposure to the search
engines.

In darts, narrowing the target would make it harder to hit. In blogging for business, smaller targets can make for better “hits”!