How Do You Find The Right Target Market for Your Software Product?
No business gets very far without knowing who they’re selling their products to. Some software companies have managed to appeal to an enormous target market. Social media and search companies are well-known for this, but they didn’t start out that way. Facebook started out with a very small and specific market: Harvard University students. Only later was the product’s greater potential apparent. Most successful software companies start out with a similar tight focus.
What Problem are You Solving?
The key is to do things in the right order. A common mistake is to try focusing on an enormous target market with a wide range of interests, needs, and problems. There are millions and millions of software products out there now whose creators are just throwing stuff at the wall to see if it sticks.
The better strategy is to make sure that your software is solving a known problem. That is, a problem that has been clearly identified as a pain point for someone. It should be a problem that is likely to occur for many organizations, and your market research should prove that indeed it does.
Ideally, you’ll be the first to solve that problem. If you aren’t, then your software should do it significantly better than whoever’s already leading the market. Otherwise, no one will have any reason to switch.
Who Has That Problem?
That brings us to the next point. To help your sales efforts, it’s a good idea to make sure that your target market operates in an industry that interests you and that you can relate to. Carl Mattiola points out why:
Which industries do you believe in? Which ones would you love to help? Which ones would you be happy to talk to every. single. day. ???
You are gonna be in business with these people so you really have to love it.
If you don’t you may get bored and self-sabotage any success you have.
For a more practical take on this point, Phil Morettini has this to say:
Of course, it’s better to choose a market segment where you know the lay of the land and have some existing contacts–than not. Sometimes this can be a little-overblown, though. I’ve moved into many markets where I previously had no experience or contacts with great success. And in the software/tech business, things can change very quickly. If you aren’t open to recognizing change, that “existing market knowledge” might already be dated and that knowledge that gives you so much comfort can actually work against you. Imo, it’s usually far more important to have the ability to go into a market segment and size it up accurately and quickly, than it is to have actual experience there. But all things considered, assuming you don’t get over-confident in your market knowledge, having existing contacts and past experience in a market segment can be very helpful.
Accelerating Target Market Identification
Boom Demand considers this the first crucial step for all of our clients. If you don’t already know your market, we help you find it. Once it’sidentified, we help you reach out to potential clients fast with our sales development teams, SEO work on your online content, and other strategies that help you hit the ground running. Contact us today to start!