Most businesses cater to a variety of clients and customers.
Having a general idea of what customers want from your business is not enough to create truly effective advertising and marketing campaigns. Businesses must take that knowledge to the next level and define target audiences to connect with the customers they want to reach.

In order to help your audience find you, you need to target who your audience is. In other words, you need to understand who it is that would be looking for the information on your site.

It is very important to see whether you are:
> targeting the right person,
> at the right time,
> in the right place,
> with the right message,
> and delivering the right experience to your Audience.

Targeting your audience is a key factor to the effectiveness of your marketing activities online. Targeting an audience in ecommerce simply means concentrating on a particular group of people that are more likely to respond in a positive way to your marketing campaign and what you do.

The main sources via which an Online Business can generate ROI are the following:
> Search Engines
> Linking with other sites (Internetworking)
> Advertising
> Press Releases
> Newsletters/ezines

Now, let's talk about a perfect Marketing strategy!....

Make sure you have the right products/services. In other words, it should be something people are interested in. Don't forget to present them well on your website. Your website is the first impression to customers who find you online!

Do some research on what you plan to do, to see whether there are people who are interested in what you have to offer. You can take a look at competitive web sites to have an insight about the industry you're in.

Increase your chances by not getting into an industry where a big business monopolizes the market. Find a niche market or if you already have a business that makes some profit, emphasize on something of value that your competitors have not. Once you have gathered all the information you need, such as your target audience. Offer your products through advertising methods that work.

If you don't target the right audience, the consequences could be really disastrous. First would be loss of money followed by waste of time and effort.

It's relatively simple to determine who your target is and what they want; it just takes a bit of pre-planning that will really pay off in the end. Here are some quick and easy steps to help you in this process:

Network. Your friends, family, co-workers, and acquaintances are invaluable resources when trying to figure out who your target audience might be. Ask them questions about what they might search for in your targeted topic, what they're looking for, what they wouldn't look for, etc.

Research and Join Check out your local library and peruse industry trade newspapers or magazines that pertain to your particular topic, or read newspapers online.
The Internet is a fantastic resource for topic research. Browse around for discussion groups , and see what people are talking about.

While making a Marketing plan, be sure to do the RESEARCH, WRITE GOOD CONTENT, RECOGNIZE THE IMPORTANT KEYWORDS AND TARGET SEARCH ENGINES, INTERNETWORKING.