Any person who owns a business has asked themselves: �what is my target market.�� Large corporations not only ask this question, but also spend millions of dollars annually determining their target markets.� Determining your target market does not have to be difficult or take a lot of time.� You simply have to take your scrapbook business and ask yourself: Who, What, Where, When and Why.

Who
Who is your target market?� Men? Women? Children? Are your clients working adults, retired persons, business professionals or housewives?

Where:
Where do your clients live?� Do they live in a rural part of the country?� Do they live in the City? Are they in a costal town or in the heart of Mid-America? Do they even live in the United States?

What:
What do your customers want? Are you marketing to a broad spectrum of persons or are you focusing your talent on a niche market like bridle/ wedding books?

When:
When are your customers, prospective customers most likely to order from you?� If you are broad spectrum marketing this could be hard to determine, but if you have narrowed your client base to a few niche markets �when� should be an easy question for you to answer.� If one of the niches you have chosen to market to is wedding books obviously you will need to step up your marketing in the �classic� wedding seasons.� If your target market is hunting and fishing expeditions, you will need to market according to various hunting seasons.

Why:
Why do you customers want you to put their priceless memories into a scrapbook?� Do they not have the time to devote to putting a scrapbook together or does their artistic talent lack in the scrapbooking category.

Target marketing is not a difficult task if your flow the steps above.� Knowing your market can help you make other decisions, such as: location, where to place your advertisements and where your specific talents will be most useful.� Knowing your market will allow you to be efficient in marketing and not use the �shot gun� method which will ultimately scatter your efforts and your energy.� If after you determine your target market, your business does not grow, return to the method listed above and revise your marketing strategy.

Target marketing also makes your business look more professional.� By having a specific customer base, you can focus your website design, logo design and even narrow which types of publications that you might want to advertise in.� For instance if you are marketing to a target market of baby book scrapbooks, advertising in the local auto trader might not be a good use of your time, effort and money.� On the other hand if you place your business card in a hospital in the maternity ward, you might accomplish a successful sale.