If you've not done so already, you need to find your target audience.

So do you want to reach out and grab them by the shirt collar? No, you want to hit them over the head with a brick bat and drag them in. Not literally, of course. But it's not hopping out there and you don't want your business to drown in the ocean of mediocrity. You want it to THRIVE and you won't take this lying down. Rebranding yourself or your business is one way to find success in even the most dismal of economic situations.

Many hold dear to the general store approach thinking that mass appeal has a better chance of bringing in a greater number of customers or clients.

But the opposite is true. Cast too wide a net and you are nothing to nobody. It's narrowing your focus to the audience who values your product or service the most that pays off the best. Besides, who wants to compete with the Wal-Mart’s of the world?

On the other hand, while niche is in, getting too niche paints you in a corner.

The trick is finding a balance. So how do you do this in a puttering economy? You don't put your head in the sand and suspend all advertising efforts. You just spend them wiser to maintain or build a top-of-mind awareness. To this audience, you present yourself or your business as the solution to a problem or a solution with benefits. You speak to this audience in their language.

Think like a salesman.

Think how you'd sell yourself to this group if you were standing there speaking with them. And then step out of your shoes, into theirs.  Don't step out of them until you have worn holes in those shoes chewed their gum.

Once you isolate the audience and once you know them, create an advertising message to cater to their needs or desires. Make it SPECIFIC.  For example, you make dog food with organic ingredients and have advertised it as such. But what BENEFIT does this offer the pet owner? Why are you leaving it up to them to figure out? Serve it up to them. You know them now.

So let's say you've isolated a target market, fitness-focused families with a pet. Perhaps you position your organic pet food as longevity food since the all-natural ingredients promote good health and add quality years to the life of your pet.

•  As a result of buying premium food, your pet is healthier and you spend far less time and money at the vet's office, not to mention any other associated expenses.
• Or
  
• As a result of buying premium food, your pet will live longer. 

 Then you take one of those messages and translate it into engaging advertising. That's the type of message that gets your ad dollar working for you.

For example, we'll take that second potential message and boil it down.

You see I didn’t just say the pet lives longer. I took the longevity idea and translated that into what it means to your target market. They want their pet to live longer because they love him and that pet will bring them joy. In this case, one of your subheads would point out the benefit of a healthy pet in terms of money and time saved at the vet.

Make sure once you've isolated a position and a market, that all of your communication carries that message. That means your business cards to your ads to your website to your press releases. It’s your market POSITION. But before you go to the expense, you can test it with ads, direct mail, pay per click advertising and a headline change on your website and see if it resonates with your audience.  

Don't ignore print ads. It's negotiable and reasonable right now. What I'm saying is think past media that you usually use and try something different that will reach your market.

So don't be afraid to get out there in a new way with a message specific to a target audience. You just may find more success than you’ve ever had before.