I’m conducting a two day marketing boot camp in Boston today and each time I do one of these I am struck with one recurring theme: Small business owners have a hard time defining a narrow target market.

This is due in part to the fact that defining who is your customers, requires you to define who is not. That’s all well and good in the meeting room as an exercise, but it takes some guts to put that target market description out there on the streets for all to read. But, it could be one of the most effective marketing strategies you employ.

Attempting to be all things to all people is tough to pull off and will likely lead to being all things to no one in particular – a great way to guarantee that you compete on price.

Find a market niche that is large enough to allow you to grow your business, determine if you can serve this market and then let the world know through your marketing that you are indeed the expert in serving that market. Develop your marketing, your tools, your culture and your language around catering to the needs of that market and you will find that not only will your business soar, your ability to charge a premium for your services to this market will be a given.