How to find the right audiences to market to

I've marketed to many audiences, built multiple successful businesses across various verticals, and I can tell you there is one audience that you can help more and make more money with than any other:

THE UNDERSERVED DESPERATE.

Let's unpack. Underserved seems obvious, but it isn't - this goes beyond "find a need and fill it." Underserved means people complaining about inferior solutions as they pay for them, demonstrating commercial viability.

The complaints themselves are also clues.

Around 2010 I made over a million dollars simply by recognizing there was no good membership software out there that:

1. Could be set up quickly - like 10 minutes or less.
2. Could set individual passwords for members.
3. Was free.

Everything else was too complicated, too expensive, or overly simplistic.

I spent a week finding a solution. I documented it step by step and sold it for $27. It was an easy sell because most of the market had already paid $197 or more just for software they couldn't even configure!

Serve the underserved - especially those who are desperate.

When I say desperate, I don't mean you take advantage of these folks, although, unfortunately, the easiest people to take advantage of ARE the desperate. You treat these people right, but there should be some urgency to serve them -

Otherwise, someone may prey on them instead.

Say you wanted a whiter, brighter smile - a future, potential benefit. You may seek out a dentist, but probably not. But what happens if you crack your tooth and now feel pain every time you breathe in, and the pain is preventing you from sleeping?

You're booking the appointment and putting the money on the table.

Mental and emotional pains are even more of a burden. So, which market is underserved and has massive emotional/mental pain that will continue to occur every moment until an exemplary entrepreneur like yourself comes along and provides relief?

BONUS TIP:

find a way to validate before going all in. I'm a pro at this and miss as much as I hit. Just because a market looks ripe and people want a solution and are begging for it, there are still many reasons you can't economically serve those audiences.

So I like to go to the heart of it - see if I can get anybody to buy anything… the bare bones version, that hits right at the heart of it, selling it one on one if I have to.

How quickly can you put something sufficient in front of someone to see if they'll buy it or not?

I saw on Reddit the other day a guy who spent six months building a website that he now plans to hook into a licensed API for which he has to pay $5000 a month. He's asking how he can acquire the number of customers needed to break even. He got it backward. He should've seen if he could pre-sale the thing:

"Hey, if I built this, would you pay $50 to have first access to it when it's done, before anyone else? I plan to sell it for $50 a month, but I'll give you a year for $50 if you buy right now."

Don't build the solution, then go search for the problem.

Tailor fit a new solution to an existing, inadequately addressed problem that is preventing mental, physical, or emotional pain from being relieved.