A Quick Guide To Finding Your Target Market

If you’re struggling while starting out in your business, chances are it’s because you have not locked down your target market.  Also called a “niche,” a target market is a mirror of your ideal customers avatar.  It’s the exact person that your product is created for.  Of course it can be for multiple people, but when you’re advertising or marketing, then you should always write or create your ads, Facebook posts, Twitter tweets, Instagram posts…..etc.., as if you’re talking to your ultimate, ideal customer.  There is a saying that I’ve heard multiple times as a young entrepreneur, and that is that “when you’re trying to sell to everyone, you’re ineffectively trying to sell to no-one.  Because not everyone wants or needs your product.  Not everyone needs a car, not everyone needs a vacuum, and in my market, not everyone needs or desires to make extra money from home.

You want to target those that your product creates a solution for.  Your ideal avatar should have a problem that your product is needed to solve.  For example, I needed to make extra money somehow from home because my paychecks were barely getting me to my next paycheck, creating an inability for me to do anything that I wanted or needed to do outside of paying my regular bills.  So finding a way to make extra cash online was important to me.  It’s not the same for everyone.  Most people are comfortable with where they are and don’t feel the need or desire to put in the extra work to earn more.  In their minds, they don’t need it, and so they don’t want it.  One of my three target markets are for those that are fed up with the paycheck to paycheck living (or lack thereof).

So how do you find your ideal target market(s)?  Starting out, I recommend that you focus on just one first, become a specialist in that area, and then move on to help others.  There are more than enough people in this world, with more than enough problems that you have a solution to.  So don’t try and spread out quickly and grab more food than you can eat.  Sure, if you run your own business, you should have a large vision.  But you don’t need to reach that vision tomorrow.  Making money from home takes time, effort, discipline, and consistency.  If you don’t understand that, then I would recommend you try your luck with the lottery.

For those that are serious, here is a quick guide that you can copy, to figure out what your target markets are, how to approach them, and then what to do after you have found them:

STEP 1:

The 1st group that you need to figure out is what markets you know.  Take a moment and write down the top 5 markets that you know.  If you’re unsure, and you don’t have a product already in hand, then the best thing to do is to look at yourself.  Nobody knows you better than you.  What problems have you overcome in the past?  Was it being a homeless veteran like myself?  If so, then your first market would be veterans.  Was it being a single parent, or just being a parent in general?  If so, then your market would either be single parents, or parents.  Were you a person who struggled with drugs or alcohol addiction in the past?  If so, then addicts are your market.  Write down your top five, and then move on to step 2.

STEP 2:

This step involves you writing out the top 5 problems for each one of your target markets.  If your target markets include veterans, then maybe not getting help with PTSD is a problem.  Maybe not knowing how to use your education benefits is a problem.  Maybe simply finding a job is a problem.  Maybe finding help buying a home with your VA loan is a problem.  And so on.  Come up with 5 problems for each market.

STEP 3:

Once you have figured out who your target markets are, and what problems they have that you have the solution to, it’s now time to concentrate more on your entrepreneurial skills.  What skills do you have?  This is important because you’re going to use these skills to market to your potential customers.  Take me for example, I obviously know how to blog, I can do a podcast, I know how to advertise using Facebook PPC (pay-per-click), Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, Periscope, Snapchat, online hangouts, and so on.  Figure out what you’re good at.  And if you’re not good at any, then pick one, and learn it.  If you need help, just ask, and I’ll do a team training on it.  You don’t have to be a team member of the Veteran Network to partake in our trainings.

So now that you’ve figured out your target markets, their problems, and how to reach them, it’s time to go into the second set of steps.  These are your research steps, and these steps will move you from being a beginner in the field, to being a specialist.

Research Steps

STEP 1: 

If you’re going to become a specialist in your field, then it’s going to take research.  Most people won’t even start this step because they have no clue where to start.  Well, I’ve got great news for you.  I know exactly where you should start!  Go to http://www.buzzsumo.com .  BuzzSumo is a great resource to “find the most shared content and key influencers.”  And that’s exactly what you’re going there for.  You will be searching for the TOP TEN most popular blogs in your niche.

STEP 2:

Once you find the most popular blogs, dig into them and find the most popular posts within those blogs.  This will give you a great idea as to what the hottest topics are for right now in your target market.

STEP 3:

Go into those posts and look at the comments at the bottom of the page.  What questions or concerns are the readers discussing and asking about?  This is huge for you because the readers are basically telling you exactly what their problems are, and what solutions they are looking for!

STEP 4:

Find your TOP TEN influencers in your market.  Look at the types of content that they are putting out.  It’s also important to know who they are because you can reference their content in your blogs and social media posts.  This will give you a potential following from their followers as well.  Plus, if you can get one or two of them to mention your content, then that makes you look like you are a specialist in that area.  So, for example, I learned most about this topic by going to an event recently and learning from Tracey Walker, a fellow entrepreneur.  You can read more about Tracey and her target market by going to http://www.traceywalkerspeaks.com .

STEP 5:

Find the TOP TEN books in your market and actually READ THEM!  Part of my team’s core commitments each day is to read a book for 15-30 minutes.  This helps you find content to write about or post on your social media accounts.  Consistency is the key here.  The more you get yourself and your solution out there, the more paying customers you will attract.

I have training on my team every Wednesday evening on topics such as this, and basic business fundamentals for the online entrepreneur.  If you would like to join the team, please click on this link to see the opportunity.  Otherwise, message me, Jeff Demers, on Facebook, and I’ll send you a link to the team training.  There is no purchase necessary to attend.  But again, if you are interested in checking out this thing called “network marketing,” then click the link below, and let’s get you started on the right path with a simple, free video, with some great information.

Click here to check it out:

http://bit.ly/amazingsystemproof