“There’s so much to do. Where do I start?”
Whether you’re running a race, or marketing your business, the first step is always daunting. You look ahead and see nothing but the work that needs to be done, and the progress you’ll have to make. You can’t see the finish line at all. You might not even see the starting block.
This post is about the starting block exclusively. Because if you get your marketing off to the right start, the whole race will be easier, and you’ll increase your chances of winning it.
Adjust Your Aim
The marketing starting block is all about pushing off into your marketing race with a firm understanding of who you want to reach.
I can hear the collective groan right now. Yes, we’re going to talk about your target market. Stick with me here!
For some reason, most people don’t want to do the work of thinking through their target market. I think it’s because deciding who to aim your marketing efforts at means you’ve got to determine who you don’t want as a customer. Some people may be afraid to leave anyone out. They’d like to think their product or service is ideal for everyone.
But something magical happens when you become very clear about who you’re aiming for.
Your marketing messages are more compelling, because you’re not trying to please everyone. Your materials are attractive and consistent, because you know who you want to appeal to, and you let that knowledge guide your decisions.
And the most amazing thing is that you actually start attracting that group who will be best served by what you offer. They’re interested in your service or product, and you don’t have to try so hard to sell it to them. It solves one of their problems, so they want to hear about it.
Why determining your target market is important:
- When you know who your ideal customer is, you can craft your marketing to attract them.
- It’s much easier to sell something to an audience who wants and needs what you offer.
- Your marketing language will be tailored to how your target market speaks about their problem. They’ll recognize themselves in your marketing, and know they’re in the right place.
- Your colors, fonts and overall graphic style will work together to attract people who want to buy from you.
Afraid of Commitment?
Another reason people push back on thinking about their target market is they feel like once they commit to trying to appeal to specific group, they may regret it. What if they’re wrong? What if — it turns out — their products or services appeal to a group they haven’t identified?
They’re right to have these reservations. Once you’re out there marketing your business, you may find that you attract a different group of customers than the one you originally anticipated.
That’s OK: it’s a natural part of the process. Just commit to observing your customers to see if you need to revise your description of your target market once you’re out there using it.
Remember, you can make course corrections as you go. Determining your target market isn’t a once and done project.
4 Questions to Ask About Your Target Market
Can’t figure out who they are? These questions will help reveal your ideal customer:
- What problem does your product or service solve?
- If you’ve been in business a while, look back at who has hired you or bought your product so far. What common traits do you find?
- Gender, age group and geographic location may all be important factors. But look for things like “they want to remove chemicals from their lives,” or “they want to parent successfully,” or “they’re interested in looking their best.” What phrases describe them as a group?
- What frustrations do your customers have to deal with that’s solved with your product or service?
“My business is brand new and I don’t have any customers yet. How should I determine my target market?”
If you’re starting from scratch with no customers, you can look at the kind of work you do best, and envision the type of person that work would be most useful for.
This information will be a good guide to keep your early marketing decisions on track. Once you start working with “real” clients, you can make course corrections based on who you actually attract.
Extract Valuable Insights with this Simple Exercise
Here’s an exercise Jon Morrow shared here on the Big Brand System back in 2010. It’s a great way to extract insights about your target market you can use to guide your efforts.
“For getting to know customers, my favorite technique is to get a blank piece of paper and draw a line down the middle. On one side, I write, “What fears keep them up at night?” On the other side, I write, “What dreams keep them up at night?” Then I write down at least 100 things on each side.
The first 20 or so are usually easy, but it’s the last 80 where you find the real value. Sometimes, it’ll take me several weeks to be able to fill it out completely, but once I do, I know that I’m ready to start designing my marketing for them. It’s also great for generating ideas for blog posts.”
After you’ve determined who you’re aiming to reach, try this exercise to determine how to speak to them, and what to talk about.
How Do You Know When You’ve Got It Right?
You’ll know you’ve done this work correctly when you start seeing people who meet your description interacting with your business and becoming your customers.
You’ll run your marketing race with ease, because every step you take will be guided by your target market’s needs and desires.
It’s Your Turn
How about you? Have you gone through the process of developing a description of your target market? Are you avoiding it because it seems impossible?
Let’s talk about it in the comments. I’m happy to help you work through this essential step.
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Great post Pamela. It’s important to identify your niche, where you want your business to sit in the market and who ultimately you want to work with. It’s even more important to stick to your guns as your new business develops, to ensure you stay true to those ideals. If nothing else, it will ensure your marketing message is strong rather than being diluted by trying to appeal to everybody! Alyssa.
p.s. can I please have the abs from your lead image
I know: I want those abs, too! Thanks for your comment, Alyssa.
Oh, Pam, here you go again with a great post.
If one is to believe in serendipity (and I tend to do), the last seven days have been pushing me to work on this neglected part of my business.
I woke up today with the goal of aggressively tacking this, and, what do you know? This shows up in my inbox.
Thanks for the good that you do.
I’m glad the timing worked out, Nando! Jon’s exercise is priceless, and it’s not easy. I highly recommend making time for it in the process of thinking through your target market.
Hi Pamela,
Thanks for the post! Even if you think you know already, it is great to get a reminder. You both are so right, stick to your niche, it is ok to not appeal to everybody, and find your target group. Sounds very easy, but can be a huge challenge! But I love a challenge, so I am stubornly not giving up. Thanks again for the post, I am learning a lot:)
Those abs, sigh, a girl can dream, right?
Maartje
You’re right, Maartje: it sounds easy, but it’s not. That’s why people avoid it.
It makes such a difference to your marketing when you do this work, though. Getting the abs in that photo probably wasn’t much fun, either, right? The results are worth the effort!
Pamela, this is one of the most comprehensive articles on finding a “target market” that I’ve ever read! I think the “excluding” part is most important to think about and also the hardest part of the equation – for me at least. But excluding gives clarity and allows you to do your best work for the customers that remain.
That excluding part is really tough, and seems so counter intuitive. I mean, who wants to walk away from a slice of their prospects? But you know it works, because you’ve done it!
Thanks for your comment, Marlene.
You are right Pamela it is tough to decide which customers you AREN’T going to serve. It can feel like you are missing out on something. That is until you consider what you are REALLY walking away from. Those excluded clients are cut out for many reasons: They can be harder to work with because they don’t quite resonate with what you are about at your core. They can be resistant to your offer, which means they don’t get the results they desire because they don’t follow the program. That means they didn’t fully receive the value they could have from you. Less perceived value means price resistance, less referrals, and generally less happy customers. We often end up feel drained and demotivated after working with a less than ideal client. Bottom line is choosing to work with the wrong customer can COST you. Big time.
Great post!
Great points, Charles, especially about how less-than-ideal clients are harder to work with. We don’t often think about the non-financial aspects of the transactions we do in business, but they may be more important than the money we exchange. Who wants to work with a resistant customer? It’s no fun.
Pamela – thank you very much for including a section for new people starting out who don’t have any customers yet. I have lost count of how many people write about this but base the information on the assumption you have some historical information on which to basis your analysis on.
What I find curious is that so many people go on about how important defining your market is, but very few give practical steps on how to do so. So, I thank you again, for including some very practical advice on how to start.
Caroline
You’re welcome: it was your question on my earlier post that inspired that section, so thank YOU.
“I” am my target market. By that I mean, someone just like me. I have been on the user end of the service I am now providing so I am intimately acquainted with my target market. So, I have begun to keep a lengthy list of the things I enjoy, places I go, sites I visit, comments that grab me, tags I search for etc…
Thanks the the very helpful information.
-C
That’s a great position to be in, Cherol. And it sounds like you’re taking advantage of it!
“Are you avoiding it because it seems impossible?”
Yup.
How do you find the hidden people?
The ones that are not emerging from their lairs because they are fed up with all the b/s that’s published out there.
What do you know about them, Birdy?
You might want to try Jon’s exercise. Rather than try to describe them, try to get inside their heads and think about their fears and desires. That may give you enough information to start speaking in a way that helps them realize you’re one of them, and they can trust you.
Hi Pam,
Great post on a great topic. I’ve gotten so much out of thinking about my ideal customer.
A big thing to look at is attitudes, and what polarizes people. Knowing this can help you know what to avoid and what really fires them up in a good way. I also love to think about “who would I really like to work with”, in the way that Michael Port teaches in “Book Yourself Solid”.
I find myself preferring the word “client” or “customer” more than “market”. After all, we never speak to markets, we speak to people. This makes a mental shift that helps me communicate more freely.
Thanks again!
-DB
It’s fascinating how a slight shift in semantics frees up our thinking!
I love the idea of thinking about what polarizes people, too. Thanks for the comment, David.
Pamela, thanks for the sound advice. I am trying to narrow down my business writing offerings, and trying to specify what an ideal customer for me might be, but it’s difficult, because I like variety in my writing assignments, so I write web content, press releases, occasional tech stuff, all kinds of marketing collateral, and offer editing services as well in those areas. (I also write journalistic pieces and fiction, but we can ignore those for the moment.)
A big trouble for me is that I don’t want to specialize in something—say, white papers—because I know that I become bored with sameness in writing and writing assignments. But there is strong logic in what you say regarding focus and audience. Thoughts?
Tom, focus on who you help, not what you do to help them, first off. Your versatility doesn’t need to be hampered by clarity about your target market.
It’s great you can do all those things, and you obviously have existing clients. Take a good look at the people you work with now, especially the ones you enjoy working with. What traits do they have in common? What attitudes/philosophies/approaches to they share?
If you can figure that out, you’ll be well on your way to painting a clear picture of who they are. Good luck.
Pamela, I appreciate the reply. That does help me begin to refine the picture of the “right” client. And emphasizing how they should be someone I enjoy working with is key, because work that’s pleasurable keeps both parties coming back, and I believe it positively colors the quality of the labor.
Great work – I love the composition! And you’re definitely hitting your Target Market to boot!
Thank you
G’Day Pamela,
Back in the early 90s “Positioning, The Battle For The Mind” by Al Ries and Jack Trout was recommended to me. I’d already been in business for 13 years. It was an absolute revelation. That’s where I first found out about the absolute necessity for a crystal clear business focus and a narrow specific target market.
Almost 20 years later, I still see these two things as the essential basis for any successful business.
In their second book, “The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing,” Al and Jack also discussed the Law of Sacrifice……what are going to give up to concentrate on focus and target market.
Every day in the blogosphere I read people going on endlessly about branding and niches and other trendy marketing buzzwords without a mention of the crucial importance of focus and target market.
Incidentally, did you know that last year, in 2011, the readers of “Advertising Age” voted “Positioning” the “Most Important Marketing Book Ever.”
Thanks for emphasising such an important issue.
Have great 2012.
Best Wishes
Leon
Hi Leon – thank you very much for posting your book suggestions.
As I previously mentioned here, everyone states how important getting clear who your target market is, but I have failed to find practical guidance on this, to a new business.
I’ve just ordered the ‘Positioning’ book from Amazon and look forward to reading it. Thanks again.
Caroline
Thanks for this recommendation, Leon.
I agree: focusing your efforts and determining your target market isn’t “sexy.” People would rather forge ahead and start marketing their businesses without doing this thinking. It’s like shooting in the dark, though: you can’t hit what you’re not aiming for.
Fancy meeting you here Leon!
(And touting Ries + Trout, yet 
)
Anyway, I’d like to second your “focus on focus”
It changes everything.
It’s a world-shaking stance. Focus helps everything, especially target markets + business success
(Though Johnny B. Truant, who actually chats with John Morrow all the time lol… might disagree 
)
I like the 4 questions. Everyone should ask themselves those questions at some point in their life.
Awesome post, Pamela
One of the best I’ve read on target markets (bringing back John’s exercise is fantastic!)
Everything you said is spot on, and I know that I was afraid to Repel Customers. I changed tho, and now I … well… kinda love it
Everything I create auto-filters my clientele.
My materials have some swearing in them because a) It’s authentically how I talk sometimes, for emphasis, it’s my ‘voice’ and b) I’m really not interested in attracting people who have issues with other people’s speech patterns.
I teach success, and NOT nit-picking over words is a pre-requisite. Anyway, I hear ya, and looks like everyone else does too
-
I’d like to add the flipside, which, is not the majority at all, and not necessarily recommended (I teach people to find their target market too
), but there do exist successful people (mainly celebrity artists) who put relatively little thought into their target market.
They simply, ‘get in the zone’ and ‘sing from the heart’ and somehow resonate strongly with a particular group (usually a group ‘like them’)
Anyway, just a minor 2cents of fresh perspective.
Pamela hi,
The niche you find yourself in will determine who your target market will be.
I am assuming that before you start a business, you are aware of what you have to offer potential clients. I think it is more a question of developing a client-base than of determining a target market.
If you have developed a solution, through experience, for problems within your niche, even better. You then operate from a position of strength; you have something that someone else in the same niche may not have.
Be yourself, and your market will be drawn to you. And be patient!
A client-base takes time to develop.
Just remember not to be so rigid in your thinking that potential clients may have difficulty in working with you.