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I am surprised about the marketing paralysis that has hit many businesses right now. There is a bank that I work with that usually plans and sets their media buys in December for the next year.

Here we are on Groundhog day, and they still are waiting to see if the sun will shine, or not in 2009.

Tell you what, if they hide and lay low, they will disappear. How about you? What are you waiting for? The election? Done. The New Year? Done. The end of Bush, beginning of Obama? Done. Groundhog day? That's today.

Stop waiting and take action or the action you take will be a going out of business sale. Joe Dager wrote about this last week:

Dorothy, it’s about the shoes!

By business901 | January 29, 2009

How is your marketing doing in 2009? Have you increased it? We have just about completed the first 30 days and are you cutting back or moving forward? I am still talking to perspective clients that seem to lack direction. How can you not be focused by now?

Case in point, Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz! She was running away from home for a better life. They did not understand her. I have 2 teenage boys, can I run? No, I understand that this is a part in their life that they need to find themselves. They need to find their own identity.

I have always thought many companies struggle with that. I talk to businesses everyday that define their target market as small business. I want for someone to take note here, SMALL BUSINESS IS NOT A TARGET MARKET.

So how do you define your niche? For starters, it is what you do well. Now, think about this - what do you do better, really better, than anyone else. What individualizes you more than any one single point. What would your customers say? What would your strategic partner say? What would a referral partner say?

I was taught the "Five Why" method. Keep asking why to each answer 5 times. At the end, you probably have the answer that you are looking for.

1. Who(Why) is your target Market? Small Business
2. Why? I work with companies that do not have an in-house marketing department.
3. Why? Our system is set up to handle that function.
4. Why? Because it is a systems.
5. Why? Because systems work.

So now, who is my target market from just that short exercise, I can tell you right now. If you don’t believe a system works, you are not my target market.

How about Dorothy? Remember the words of the lion to the wizard. Yeah, and the wizard took off without her. Linda, the good looking witch came back and told Dorothy what? "You have had the power all along, you just had to find it." I encourage you as a business to find your niche and identify with it. If you want your marketing to work, don’t try to be everything to everyone. Find the power within your organization and tap those shoes together. It’s about the shoes!

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