Every time you go on social media or surf the web, you probably notice that the majority of the ads you see seem oddly specific to things you just searched for.

This is not a coincidence.

In today’s market, our choices are immense. It’s difficult for businesses to stand out, and that’s why these targeted ads are so crucial. Businesses understand what their niche audience is looking for, and they use this knowledge to place ads with the right people at exactly the right time.

Every sales-based business should think of it this way: if you’re throwing a dart at a target, you need to know where the target is. Otherwise, you’re simply throwing away your darts. Every customer and prospect is the target, and you need to have a thorough understanding of them in order to hit the bullseye.

But it’s not enough to target anyone and everyone. In order for your business to thrive, you need to think about some of these strategies for developing your niche, and how you can apply them to corner your market.

Who needs your services right now?

As a sales professional, you’re probably thinking: “Everyone can benefit from my services. That’s the point.” And while it’s important to always think of whatever good or service you’re selling as a necessity, it’s more important to consider the smaller group of individuals who need your business right now.

For example, if you spend the majority of your time prospecting for clients who may want to buy from you a year, three years, or even five years from now, without focusing on who wants to buy from you today, you’re wasting the majority of your time and resources. There’s an art to turning prospects into clients, but if the majority of your prospects won’t be ready to buy any time soon, you’re left with nothing more than an uninterested audience.

The narrower your focus, the easier it is to make a sale.

Trying to sell a home to someone who isn’t interested is like trying to sell ice in the dead of winter—it’s not going to work. You want your audience to be niche enough that your specific skill set and approach applies to them and is something that will resonate, but wide enough that you aren’t closing your business off to potential clients.

There is a happy medium that has to be achieved, which you can determine through taking a look at the market in your area and specializing in what most folks are looking for—be it luxury homes, first-time home buyers, or retirees. The more specific you can get in your approach, the better off you’ll be.

Make use of your target audience.

The best thing about having a target audience and understanding their needs is that it makes your job a million times easier. Once you’ve established the group of people you know you can most easily target, you can then start to develop a strategy for how best to target them.

Let’s say you want to target individuals between 25–40, and you know that this particular group uses Instagram more frequently than Facebook. With this knowledge, you can make sure you target your content and build up your social media presence more heavily on Instagram—where your prospects are more likely to find you.

With the majority of businesses suffering from an oversaturated market, it can be easy to get lost in the shuffle. However, by establishing your target audience and working to relate to them better, you can more easily pivot your sales and marketing techniques to your advantage.