Small business owners can costs themselves good business and quality clients by marketing their business to every fish in the sea. Marketing expert and Sydney Small Business Centre founder has four top tips for small business owners looking to catch quality customers.

1.  Know what you’re fishing for
Fishermen don’t go fishing for goldfish when they’ve got families at home hungry for dinner. They pick the right fish and they bring them home. Knowing your target customer is one of the first things every business owner should do when starting out. The biggest mistake small business owners make when developing their marketing strategy is thinking that their business is for every fish in the sea. If only every potential catch was the same. But they’re not. And neither are you (or your business!) Marketing your business to a targeted customer increases your chances of converting those customers and building solid relationships with the people who matter. Now, there are plenty of questions you should ask yourself to find your perfect catch. We’ve covered quite a few of these already in our blog The Silver Bullet for Small Business. If you haven’t checked it out, you’ll find lots of posts that can help you with marketing your business, including eight questions to answer to find your target customer and our four top tips for profiling your customer. 


2.  Pick the right place to fish
Now that you know what you’re fishing for, the fishing and catching becomes a lot easier. But how do you know the right place to fish? 
Fisherman will often read reports in the morning paper telling them where the best catch of the day will be. It’s not as easy for you as a business owner looking for customers, but it’s not that hard either.

Firstly, do a bit of research about the area where you’re focusing your business. Is it local? National? Or global? Getting an understanding of where your customer is located means you can focus your marketing tactics specifically on those areas. 
Next tip is – don’t fish next to another fisherman unless you’ve got better bait. Put simply, if you’re sitting alongside a competitor who's offering the same type of product or service, make sure you’re offering something tastier.


3.  Use the right bait
Now if you haven’t figured it out by now, YOU’RE THE BAIT! So make sure you’re as tasty as possible. The best way to do this is by constructing your pitch and reach outs based on this little sales axiom:
So what?
Imagine that your target customer is holding this sign when you’re speaking to them. Your bait should be your answer to this question.


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