An experienced marketer knows all too well that to successfully target a market, the market must meet certain criteria such as:

1. Be identifiable both as a group and by their unique needs
2. Be reachable
3. Be large enough in size
4. Have the resources to make use of the product or service

If done appropriately, market segmentation strategies can provide a powerful advantage for business organizations, especially when it comes to revenue generation.

Market segmentation is often referred to as niche marketing. According to many business dictionaries, a niche is defined as any small specialized business market. Unfortunately, small is defined in many ways and often used to avoid pursuing a given segment of the population. The real question here is “When is a niche not a niche”? and “What really defines small”? Is it:
• 1 million?
• 5 million?
• 15 million?

What about when the number is 23 million? That’s the number of parents in the United States who have at least one child between the ages of five and sixteen with a disability. As a group these parents have the same income, assets and home ownership as the general population. What about when it is the 54 million American adults who, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, report having a disability and spend nearly two hundred Billion dollars per year on discretionary items?

Is a group of 80 million people with money to spend large enough? Most marketers would say yes. This segment of the population is shopping for food, electronics, health and beauty, home goods, travel and much more. They have the same interests as mainstream America yet have some unique needs which greatly impact how, where, when and with whom they shop for products and services.

It is also important to note that of the 54 million adults:
 73% are heads of a household
 46% are married
 58% own their own homes
 48% are the principal shoppers

For those companies that are interested in or already marketing to the multicultural community, it may be helpful to know that according to the U.S. Census Bureau:
 15% of the adult disabled population are Blacks
 15% of the adult disabled population are Latino
 33% of the adult disabled population are White
 37% of the adult disabled population are Asian, Native American and Other

In fact, people with disabilities represent the largest minority market in the country.