This Simple Problem is the Single Biggest Reason Businesses Fail

Most small businesses fail. It's unfortunate, but it's true.

There are multiple reasons for this, one of which is that they're not always founded by someone with expertise in running a business.

You could call that the E-myth effect.

But there's another huge reason why businesses fail, and it's common with startups and online businesses.

You haven't found and targeted a market for it. In some cases, there really isn't enough of a market for a product or a service.

But even when there's a sizeable niche audience out there that's perfect for your business, a lot of entrepreneurs aren't marketing to those people.

You have to know your audience.

You need to understand what they want, what they need, what they value, and what motivates them.

This is the solid foundation that every marketing campaign needs to succeed.

If you don't understand what your audience wants, you'll have a pretty hard time marketing anything to them.

A recent post from AdEspresso explains this in detail, including a great example of an ad that's perfectly designed for its target audience.

Know the customer’s wants—and build your marketing around it

Companies create products to satisfy consumer demand. Customers buy products to satisfy their wants and needs.

If a business does not know the needs and concerns of its customers, it cannot target its ads effectively.

If there’s not a problem a product is attempting to address, then there’s no solution it can solve. Lacking an initial problem doesn’t give consumers initiative to consider your product, let alone purchase it.

Richardson gained plenty of experience in this arena during her ad agency years, and she leverages it to this day.

Certain strategies work better for some businesses than they do for others. Regardless, you must do your best to identify “the heaven and the hell” with your customers.

What problems are they currently facing? What is their ideal situation? How can your product give customers what they want?

Let’s take a look at an ad that does this well.

[image source: AdEspresso]

The image in this ad captures a private moment most of us have experienced once or twice.

Dropping your phone on your own face is a mix of surprise, pain and frustration, followed by some restraint as you stop yourself from throwing your phone across the room to get sweet revenge on an inanimate object.

Look for little moments like this, they are the “hell” that you’re looking for. It sets you up to present your solution.

If you’re not familiar with the needs of your customers and your budget is a bit tighter, consider running a survey as a Facebook ad.

You can target your customers or, if you run an ad agency, target your client’s customers.

For example, when you go to see a superhero movie, you’re likely to see an additional three or four trailers for other superhero movies.

This should not be all that surprising—it’s fair to assume that those who watch superhero movies would be interested in watching other movies like it!

Once you have this information about your target audience, including who you’re trying to reach, their characteristics and what’s important to them, you can develop your campaign around them.

Taking these steps allows you to get inside the head, mind and heart of your audience.