4 Quick and Easy Ways to Find Out What Your Target Market Wants—Right Now!

September 9, 2010 By 4 Comments

When you have your own business, one of the things you’ll hear over and over is to get clear on who it is you serve—also known as that all-important “target market.”

But knowing who these people are is only part of the equation. You also need to know what it is that they want.

Sounds simple enough, right?

Generally, it is simple—but notice we said “want,” not what we think they need. People tend to buy based on emotion first, and logic second. So, even though we may be absolutely convinced that we know what our prospective clients and customers most need, that doesn’t mean it’s what we should be offering them.

Many business owners make the mistake of going to great lengths to create a product or craft a service or program they think their audience needs, only to offer it with very disappointing results.

The key is to find out what your market wants first, so you can then create it and offer it to them. It makes your job a whole lot easier!

There are several different ways you can find out this valuable information, but here are four of the quickest and easiest methods.

1. Hang out where they hang out—and then listen and ask questions.

This could be in local community or networking groups, in online forums or on message boards, or in social media or on blogs.

2. Ask via your newsletter.

The best newsletters are those that allow you to engage with your readers or subscribers, so if you include a personal note section, consider using that to ask what they would most like help with. Then tell them to just hit reply and let you know.

3. Make it part of your autoresponder.

If you are offering a freebie on your website that’s delivered via an email autoresponder (such as a free report or free e-course), you can add an additional message to it. Since the recipients are going to be new members of your community, you can simply tell them that in order to serve them better, you’d love to get their input on how you can best help them.

4. Set up a survey.

This is simple to do with free tools like Survey Monkey or Google Docs, and it doesn’t have to be in-depth or complicated. Simply email your list with a link to the survey, and keep it to 1-5 questions.

The way you choose to ask for the information will depend on your market and the type of product or service you are selling, but as an example, you might ask things like:

“What’s your biggest challenge when it comes to X?”

or

“What is it you would currently most like to learn about X?”

Keep track of your responses, and over time, take note of common threads that emerge. As people’s needs tend to change over time, it is also a good idea to ask these questions periodically so that you keep on top of what people most need help with.

Don’t worry that you’re bothering people by asking—in fact, most of your prospects will appreciate that you care and are taking the time to find out their needs.

So, before you create your next offering—make it easier on yourself by performing a bit of your own “market research.” People will literally tell you exactly what they would be willing to buy from you—if only you’d ask! ;)

I’d love to hear from you—how do you make sure that you are giving people what they want when it comes to your products and services?

Photo credit: PH/HA

Filed Under: Small Business Marketing Tagged With: ,

Help! I Just Need to Know How to START Online! (Ever Felt That Way?)

June 11, 2010 By 2 Comments

Everyday, more and more people decide they want to explore the possibilities of working online. Maybe they already have a business, and are just ready to use the Internet to put some systems in place that leverage their time and effort. Or, they long to start their own business and are enticed by the idea of the “laptop lifestyle” and the freedom of working for themselves.

Often, however, people end up stuck or in information overload trying to make sense of what seems like a million moving pieces. It’s hard to make progress when you feel like you barely know where to begin.

Of course everyone’s business is different, and there’s unfortunately no “one size fits all” template that someone can just hand to you. But there is a general flow to how online businesses operate, so if you are truly at a standstill right now wondering where in the world to focus, these few steps should get you pointed in the right direction.

1) Be clear on the who, the what and the how of your target market.

It may not seem like the most exciting place to begin, but it is still really important. Who do you serve? What is it they need? And how to you plan to help them with what it is they need? This does take a bit work to discover if you aren’t clear on it yet. But once you have those specifics narrowed down, reaching your target market online becomes a whole lot easier.

2) Start building your list.

The easiest way to do this is to put up a website. It could be a full-blown, traditional brochure site, a blog, or even just a one-page “invite site” where the main focus is just to have people sign up for your list in exchange for some type of freebie such as an e-course, a checklist or a short e-book or special report. The great thing is that today this is easier than ever to do. With easy-to-use free publishing tools like WordPress, you can have a simple website up and running in just a couple of hours. Really! You then want to encourage people to sign up for your freebie in as many ways as possible—through social media, blogging, message boards, you name it.

3) Commit to communicating with your list on a regular basis.

One of the most effective ways to do this is through an electronic newsletter, or “e-zine.” An e-zine can be as simple as a plain text email with a couple of helpful tips for your readers—to a HTML version with pictures, an article, listings of your upcoming events and more. An e-zine is something that can be easily forwarded so that word spreads about you, and it can also help establish you as an expert in your niche and keep you top of mind when it comes to the people on your list.

One final piece of advice: get going NOW. Realize that the time will never be “just right” and you’ll never have ALL of your ducks in a row. My own coach has a mantra that I wholeheartedly agree with when it comes to doing business online: “done is better than perfect.” The sooner you adopt that view, the sooner you will see success.

And now that you know where to start, no more excuses, ok? :)

Filed Under: Online Business Tagged With: , , ,

You Can’t Serve Everyone: Clarifying Your Niche for Better Marketing Results

February 7, 2010 By 14 Comments

Before you even start implementing any marketing strategies, it’s important to be crystal clear about whom it is you are trying to reach.

Some of the questions you should be able to answer around this include: What is your niche?  Who is your target market and what is it that they want?  What is your message to them?

Often, small business owners are afraid to narrow down their target market for fear that this will limit them. Countless times I have heard people say “my target market is small business owners” or “my niche is really anyone who needs what I offer.”

The truth is, you can’t be everything to everyone, and it is actually easier to market and attract prospects when you focus on a particular group of people. It is also easier for others to refer people to you when they see you as someone who works with a specific group.

To further illustrate, here is a simple example: Instead of “I’m a financial planner,” you could clarify it to say “I’m a financial planner who specializes in families with special needs children.”

Or, instead of “I’m a marketing consultant,” a more descriptive way to say it would be “I’m an online marketing consultant who specializes in social media strategies for coaches.”

Many times, figuring out who it is you want to serve the most involves digging into who it is you are.  Particularly online, in order to create the type of presence that draws people to you, you will need to clearly communicate who you are, what you are about, and why people should take notice.

To figure this out, some of the questions you could ask yourself might be:

  • How would I describe the essence of who I am in a single word?
  • What are my top three passions related to my work and three that are unrelated to my work?
  • What would be three adjectives used to describe my business?
  • Who are my best clients or the people who are most likely to benefit from my work?

Those are just some of the questions you can ask to really get clear on who you are professionally, as well as who you are personally.  Try this out and just begin noticing who shows up for you.

Clarifying your niche is a point of “stuckness” for many business owners and it does take a bit work to discover if you aren’t clear on it yet.  But once you have that specific niche narrowed down, reaching them with your marketing becomes a whole lot easier.

What has your experience been in focusing in on a target market?  Is this something that has challenged you in your business?  Let me know in the comments.

Filed Under: Small Business Marketing Tagged With: ,