Thanks for following along with the "So, you want to be an Entrepreneur" series! Today is Part 3, and in case you missed Part 1 and Part 2 follow the links!
Target markets are probably the number one thing that I see entrepreneurs struggle with. Most entrepreneurs are so afraid that they will finally get a visitor to their shop, but they won't have something for that single person, so they frantically try to come up with something that appeals to everyone. This type of broad net hopeful marketing may work if you have millions of dollars for television ads that are shown on tv shows where you have millions of viewers from different walks of life. Unfortunately, most of us, don't have that sort of marketing budget.
Knowing your target market will allow you to speak directly to your target customer in your listings, titles, and the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) of your site. It also allows you to easily find places to advertise where those people hang out. Advertising on places like Facebook makes this extremely easy to do and the more targeted you can make your advertising, the less dollars you will spend on advertising for your ROI (Return on Investment).
Again, defining your target market does not mean that a broad range of people will not buy your products. This is especially true if you sell items that are easily giftable. Target Markets are about who the people are that are most likely to buy your product or service. When you define your target market, you are not excluding buyers, you are targeting the people most likely to buy.
So, you might be thinking ... my target market is women between the ages of 25 to 50. This is not a target market, this is an age group. What things do those women have in common, what types of magazines are they likely to read, are they concerned about heath and wellness, are they new mothers, are they single women? What products, not including yours, are they likely to need or buy? When you can start finding the common traits of the shoppers that are most likely to buy your product, that is when you start defining your target market.
Target markets may be different for each of your products, and you may also have different target markets for the same product. Having multiple target markets is great, and allows you to adjust your keywords, titles, and even your pictures to appeal to those different markets.
All products, services, and bloggers should know who their customers or readers are, and what companion products, services, and blogs are they looking for.
If you are selling a product these are some questions to ask yourself -
If you are a blogger, you will have double the work for target markets. You will want to know first who your readers are, and tailor your content directly to them. You will also want to know, who would be interested in targeting these readers?
Finding target markets is usually easy for some, and very difficult for others. Do these exercises with each of your products and product lines. This is also the reason that I suggested not starting out with more than 3 product lines. Once you have defined your target markets, think of where you can find them! We will talk more about that tomorrow.
Target markets are probably the number one thing that I see entrepreneurs struggle with. Most entrepreneurs are so afraid that they will finally get a visitor to their shop, but they won't have something for that single person, so they frantically try to come up with something that appeals to everyone. This type of broad net hopeful marketing may work if you have millions of dollars for television ads that are shown on tv shows where you have millions of viewers from different walks of life. Unfortunately, most of us, don't have that sort of marketing budget.Knowing your target market will allow you to speak directly to your target customer in your listings, titles, and the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) of your site. It also allows you to easily find places to advertise where those people hang out. Advertising on places like Facebook makes this extremely easy to do and the more targeted you can make your advertising, the less dollars you will spend on advertising for your ROI (Return on Investment).
Again, defining your target market does not mean that a broad range of people will not buy your products. This is especially true if you sell items that are easily giftable. Target Markets are about who the people are that are most likely to buy your product or service. When you define your target market, you are not excluding buyers, you are targeting the people most likely to buy.
So, you might be thinking ... my target market is women between the ages of 25 to 50. This is not a target market, this is an age group. What things do those women have in common, what types of magazines are they likely to read, are they concerned about heath and wellness, are they new mothers, are they single women? What products, not including yours, are they likely to need or buy? When you can start finding the common traits of the shoppers that are most likely to buy your product, that is when you start defining your target market.
Target markets may be different for each of your products, and you may also have different target markets for the same product. Having multiple target markets is great, and allows you to adjust your keywords, titles, and even your pictures to appeal to those different markets.
All products, services, and bloggers should know who their customers or readers are, and what companion products, services, and blogs are they looking for.
If you are selling a product these are some questions to ask yourself -
- What style are my products?
- Is the buyer of my product different than the user of my product?
- What problem does my product solve?
- Is there a feature of my product that sets it apart from my competitors?
- What companion products, made by different companies, are the users of my products most likely to buy or use?
- Is the person looking for my service different than the end user and are their separate questions that need to be answered for each of these sets of people?
- What problems does my service solve?
- Are my services generally large ticket services, or do I provide maintenance packages to avoid larger service calls?
- What am I doing differently than my competitors?
- What companion products or services are people looking for that are similar to the services my products provide?
If you are a blogger, you will have double the work for target markets. You will want to know first who your readers are, and tailor your content directly to them. You will also want to know, who would be interested in targeting these readers?
Finding target markets is usually easy for some, and very difficult for others. Do these exercises with each of your products and product lines. This is also the reason that I suggested not starting out with more than 3 product lines. Once you have defined your target markets, think of where you can find them! We will talk more about that tomorrow.
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