Who's your target market?  Hmmm.... well, e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e!  When I survey and talk to people in the industry, I see thousands of adventure businesses trying to appeal to everyone.  The assumption is that because anybody "could" be interested in buying their product/experiences, their market must be everybody.  And that's the completely wrong approach to success. By trying to appeal to everyone, you effectively end up appealing to no one.  It's time you stop trying to get everyone to buy your stuff and start focusing on the individuals you actually appeal to.

You can't possibly talk to everyone

There isn't enough money in this world to put your message in front of everyone.  Besides, even if you could, it would be futile and highly ineffective.  To market effectively, you need to talk to someone specifically.  It's far more effective to have a "real" conversation with 100 potential customers then it is to say "Hi!" to a million.  If you try to talk to everyone, you usually connect with no one.  Choose who you want to talk to and have an engaging conversation.

Your target is not your market

What you have to understand is that your target is not your market. That is, the apparent target of your marketing is not the same as the people who will actually buy your trips and experiences.  The market is every person who wants to feel like the target.  So the target market of the adventure business that sells mountain biking trips to successful, 28 year old, free-spirit, active, urban professionals isn't solely the individuals that meet all those criteria.  Its target market is every person who wants to feel like a successful, 28 year old, free-spirit, active, urban professional:  the older guy who wants to fell young,  the university student who wants to feel successful, the dad who wants to feel free-spirited, and the office clerk who wants to feel active.  They may be very different people, but they all want to feel the same way.  Know your target market and know how to appeal to it.

You get more of what you focus on

Many adventure business owners assume that if they focus exclusively on a narrow(er) target market, they will lose revenues because they will be excluding other potential customers.  That's nonsense! 

First off, who says that the larger your market, the more you'll sell?  There's no direct correlation! And second, you get a lot more of what you focus on.  In other words, if you intensely focus on the clients you really want, the better you'll meet their needs, and the more of those clients you'll have (because no other competitors will do as good a job for that specific target market).  The revenues you can make by meeting the specific needs of your target market far outweigh the revenues you may lose from the clients who's needs are not being met as well anyways.

So stop trying to get everyone to buy your stuff and get close and personal with the select group of people you really care to make an impact on.

Now, tell me... Who's your target market?  Write your answer in the comments sections.