How to Discover your Primary Market and Where to Find Them
By Judy Cullins
Posted Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Whether you market online or offline, you already know the shot-gun approach to marketing brings few results. You will sell more products and services when you step back and set up a strategy to reach your targeted market.
Approaches That Set you Up to Pull Customer Orders
One: Develop a Specific Customer Profile
It's good to know whether your customers are primarily women or men. Remember, women buy 70% of the books published. Then, figure out the age range of your customer. One 25-year-old male coaching client aimed his motivational book at his age group. He had a lot of insight already because of his age. You may want to know the marital status.
Is your customer married, single, divorced or separated? Does religion or cultural affiliation play an important part in their lives? Location may matter, but remember to think about the vast market Online. These people subscribe to ezines and visit web sites for all kinds of information. Your product or service can easily be just right for them.
It's good to know as many details from these listings as possible.
Here's a Check List for your Target Audience:
---What are these people's biggest concerns/challenges?
---What do these people need and want to have a better life?
---Where does this person work?
---Where does this person live?
---Where does this person play?
---What type of store does this person buy from?
---What magazines or ezines does this person read?
---What newspapers does this person read?
---What radio stations does this person listen to?
---What TV programs does this person watch?
---What organizations does this person belong go?
---What kind of events does this person attend?
---Where does this person go to learn a new skill?
---Is this person teleclass savvy?
---Do these people attend seminars?
---What do these people spend money on?
---Does this person surf the internet?
---Does this person buy online?
Two. Send a Casual Market Survey to your Friends and Associates
Make sure you don't pose more than 8 questions to this group. Reward them for taking time to respond to your survey. Give them a free eBook or report or a 1/2 hour free session on your service.
What important information do they know about your audience? If they are already your audience, ask them to pick the top 8 questions and answer them in a sentence or two. This creative brainstorming can save you so much time later! Once I applied this in my ezine, I found what questions my clients wanted answered.
When you know your one preferred audience, you don't spend too much time chasing the wrong buyer. When you focus your marketing on one group at a time you will create phenomenal income success.
Yes, you know other people who can use your product or service, but remember to start with one group and give it
your all for two years. You will be much more successful and not feel so overwhelmed with the task.
To really succeed and do it quickly means you may have to take a promotion or marketing seminar. Be willing to invest some time and money. Take a teleclass on one of the best online marketing methods--writing and submitting articles to opt-in ezines (your targeted market and they are free) and top web sites in your field. This method brought your coach to # one and two in Google and other search engines, plus it increased sales more than five times in eight months.
Three: Now write a personal letter to your one audience telling them why you created your product, eBook or service and what you think it will do for them (benefits).Think of how you can make a difference in your prospects lilfe--what you can bring to help them make them more money, create better relationships, or save time..Make a list of benefits before you start this exercise.
Example for Write Your eBook or Other Short BookâFast!
Dear Professional (coaches, speakers, writers, authors, seminar leaders, business people):
I'm writing this indispensable book because I know you want to share your unique message with thousands, rather than hundreds of readers. You want to raise the bar and create more credibility in your profession. You want continuous income you don't have to be present for. This book's essential "Seven Hot Selling Points" will make your job easy, target your market, and market your book while you are writing it. You'll produce a great selling book you can sell on the Internet while you sleep! And you don't even need your own Web site!
Even if you think you can't write, that it's too big a job, or it will take too much time, How to Write Your Ebook or Other Short Book - Fast's forty-five pages plus its three bonuses reports are the fast lane to writing, publishing and selling more copies of your book than you ever dreamed of!
Once you know more about your target market, you can put your time only on what you need to get these people to buy. After you learn some simple marketing techniques, like me, you can delegate it to a low-cost computer assistant and spend less than nine hours a week on this task.
About the Author
Judy Cullins, 20-year book and Internet Marketing Coach, Author of 10 eBooks including "Write your eBook Fast," and "How to Market your Business on the Internet," she offers free help through her 2 monthly ezines, The Book Coach Says...and Business Tip of the Month at (http://www.bookcoaching.com/opt-in.shtml) and over 140 free articles. Email her at mailto:Judy@bookcoaching.com
