The subject of “target markets” is fundamental to marketing. How can you market successfully if you don’t know who you are trying to reach?

“Target market”, “market segment”, and “public” are all synonyms for a group of potential buyers who can be considered together for purposes of marketing. They have similar likes and dislikes, wants and needs, read the same publications, and so on.

Seth Godin, one of the first great online marketers and still a smart thinker, has an interesting take on this, in his book “All Marketers Are Liars.”

He talks about a “worldview” – the “rules, values, beliefs and biases that an individual consumer brings to a situation”:

“Marketing succeeds when enough people with similar worldviews come together in a way that allows marketers to reach them cost-effectively.”

Find a market segment that works for you, for your budget and what your selling.

Then what do you do?

“Don’t try to change someone’s worldview is the strategy smart marketers follow. Don’t try to use facts to prove your case and to insist that people change their biases. You don’t have enough time and you don’t have enough money. Instead, identify a population with a certain worldview, frame your story in terms of that world-view and you win.”

In short, you need to develop a branding – a coherent consistent picture and presentation that appeals to that worldview.

It is always easier to fill a demand than to create one.

Spend your time finding out who already wants what you are selling, and how to explain it to them so they get it.

It’s a lot easier, more fun and more profitable than other ways of going about it.