All the obvious stuff about forums is still true and has not changed. You register, become part of the community, work your way through their hierarchy and become a respected member. Be active. Give it some time and really work the area. In this regard every article you’ve ever read about forum marketing is spot on. All of these suggestions both benefit and help the community you’ve joined as a whole without pointing the mods at you for spamming or being there to sell your stuff. Here’s where most go wrong:

DON’T DOUBLE POST! I can’t stress that one enough. Double posting is when you make a post in reply to yourself. It can be any number of times as well, but ‘double posting’ is the term for it. Online marketers LOVE to double post. I’m telling you now, stop doing it. The Edit button was designed for just this reason. Obviously, you seem to want your signature link to be posted once more and gain another backlink. That’s bad form. And it’s bad form because of the possible consequences. At minimum your post will likely be edited to just a single post like you should have done with the Edit button. At worst BOTH posts will be deleted. The reason why double posting is frowned upon is because, in a typical conversation(the spirit in which message boards try to recreate), people reply back and forth to each other. While is not normally a bannable offense you will make some mods angry from editing your posts so much and they’ll probably stick you on a Watch List. Not good for your marketing.

Another thing that is a constant offense, though not bannable, is having a Signature that breaks the forum’s rules. This will get you quick Private Messages from the moderators as well as annoy them for every day you haven’t fixed it. They’ll also know you DID NOT read their forum rules before creating your signature. This, like double posting, already starts you out working back to point zero with the management. The moderators may also just decide to edit your signature out of every post you have or ban your signature all together if you haven’t changed it to their rules and/or ignored Private Messages to change it.

Another obvious one is don’t jump in advertising something. If your first post to as far as your first ten posts smell like ads you’ll be put on a Watch List quick or even just have your account deleted because you’ll be viewed as a spammer. Spambots do this type of thing all the time, but when they can tell a person is doing it they may be a bit faster on the trigger.

When you think about it, all these rules of forum etiquette exist because it’s so easy to weed out marketers and spammers with them. They’re usually first to double post and first to make lots of small posts to get their backlinks. This is why forums have rules that allow the deletion of posts such as “I agree.”, “Thanks.” and “I sent you a PM.” The rules may be annoying but they were designed with the best interests in mind. It just happened to be exactly what marketers don’t like to have on their boards. In an ideal world no one would market or sell anyone anything on message boards. You probably go to some to relax. If you follow the above you’ll have a much higher chance of marketing successfully and avoiding getting banned.

Target marketing is focusing on a particular target or niche that has a need for your product and service, and then creating your ad, your full color brochures for example, to answer their specific needs and issues. Your target market then is your potential buyers who require your product or solution and would actually buy from you. Your target market is often made up of smaller groups who have the same needs, problems, issues, experiences and interests.

So who is your target market? They are the ones who ‘want to buy’ from you because they know that your product or service is essential to their lives.

Here are just some of the questions you need to answer if you want to understand and truly be able to serve your particular target niche:

Who are they? Are your products for the baby boomers? Or is it the Generation X that would benefit more from your business? Are they working or stay-at-home moms? Do they have families or are they single yuppies? Are you looking for males or females? What age? Teenagers or middle aged people?

What do they want to buy? Do they buy new mobile phones every year? Do they upgrade their laptops or personal computers every month? Are they technology buffs that they always have to have the newest gizmo in digital technology? Do they spend more money on clothes or food?

How do they want to buy? Do they buy their stuff in bulk? Or are they satisfied with single purchases? Do they often get wholesale?

When do they want to buy? When they have the money or when they need it? Do they buy during sales? Or your target market avoids throngs of people when they shop? Do they buy during the time that they need their things? Or they buy on a whim?

Where do they want to buy? At the local grocer, the big department stores, in trendy shops, out-of-the-way boutiques, thrift shops, or garage sales.

Why do they want to buy? Because they need to have their stuffs or they just want to buy it because they saw it on TV? Did they hear their neighbor raving about the product that’s why they also must have one? Do they truly believe that the merchandise can help them solve their problem?

The more you understand your target market, the easier it is for you to create an ad that provides solutions to their needs and wants.