There are many business owners and entrepreneurs who unknowingly make simple mistakes that can cost them thousands if not millions of dollars before they realize what went wrong.

Here are 3 reasons we found why so many direct response marketers go wrong.

1. Insufficient knowledge and experience in direct response marketing. They know their products profit potential but miss the point entirely when it comes to evaluating what their market universe or demographic potential really is.

2. They concentrate totally on the product instead of on the market, and analyzing their chosen markets limits.

3. Lack of knowledge and experience in direct response marketing and the evaluation of risk.

There are several important steps or questions that should be asked in determining your target market.

Before settling on a target market, make sure they meet these 4 criteria. If your target audience does not meet all of your criteria, you may want to consider choosing a different target audience, expanding your reach, or altering your products so they appeal to a larger group.

1. Is your market identifiable; in other words does your target audience have a set of common characteristics that you can easily identify? Identifying all of the chiropractors offices in a specific area is an easy audience to target. However, identifying people that are not happy with their chiropractor is a more difficult thing to know.

2. Is your market of considerable size; would this target market be able to sustain your business. Sometimes targeting too small of a geographic area or specific group can have an adverse financial effect on your business plan.

3. Is your market profitable; do the majority of prospects that you are targeting have adequate purchasing power to afford the products or services you are offering. Sometimes a rough estimate can be done using demographic data to accomplish this until additional testing proves different.

4. Is your target market accessible; can you easily reach this target audience? By doing some research in databases using the SIC (standard industrial code) you can easily find how many of these prospects there are in your targeted geographic area and group.

These are a few questions you should ask yourself before pursuing and investing in a market.

What interests or expertise do I have that can be used to solve problems for people in a particular group?

Do I have contacts or notoriety in a particular area that can be leveraged to accomplish this?

Can I find where these people all conjugate or hang out at with ease?

Are the people in this group able to pay what I need to charge them for the product or service I want to provide?

Is this the easiest group to reach with the least amount of effort and in the least amount of time? In other words can this market be considered the lowest hanging fruit to pick?

In summary these are some of the things you must look at and ask yourself before you start to commit to an industry, group of people or particular niche you want to market your product and services to. You need to get absolutely clear on the type of customer you want to attract to your business and determining their numbers will be the single most important step in beginning any marketing plan or campaign.