One of the fundamentals of marketing is knowing your target market, and effective market segmentation.  This is no less true online, yet time and again people just chuck websites up and hope that people, any people find it.

If your traditional marketing effort is well-formed then the easier the move to online will be.  Some of the questions to ask, and answer, are:

1. Which of your market segments are likely to use the online channel?  All of them or only some? Which ones?

2. If there is a specific demographic more inclined to communicate with you online, is your website language, style and content optimised for that? Do they want products grouped by function, end-use, colour or something else?

3. Do you even need a website to reach your market? Will a mobile app or Facebook page be more appropriate?

Targeting the correct market segment has never been more important.