Where is your audience?

By Chris Raynor
Posted Tuesday, December 21, 2004

Go where your target audience is

Targeted marketing is the current catchphrase. A good marketer will not blast their ad out to everyone - they will have a specific audience in mind, and they will target that audience carefully, constantly refining their ads, homing in on the responsive part of their target's brain.

You must decide WHO your target audience is. Are you looking for newbies, with lots to learn, but little ready cash? Are you willing to teach them? Are you looking for established marketers, able to spend serious money on leads and advertising? Or the middle ground, hoping to learn the elusive secret that will turn them into a super marketer?

WHERE will you find your target audience? Where will they be hanging out? How can you find their haunts?

NEW MARKETERS

Put yourself in their shoes. Imagine that you are a brand new marketer. You have just joined your first affiliate program on the advice of a friend. You go to the marketing section of the new program. You have no real idea what you are doing, so you blindly follow their instructions, word for word.

Back in your own shoes now. Most affiliate marketing sections will recommend simple techniques like startpages, safelists, ezines, pay-per-click. So GO THERE. New marketers read a high proportion of the ads they see. Put your ads there. They will be feeling overwhelmed, so offer to help them. In search engines, target keywords you think a newbie would search for. List your site under those keywords. Many programs will let you sign up for a free trial, so you can study the recommended habitat of the newbie.

EXPERIENCED MARKETERS

Do your research. Pick some big names. Visit their websites. Study the sites they recommend. Leaders are professional learners, so GO to the their recommended sites and any forums at those sites.

Again, put yourself in their shoes. Many experienced marketers advertise in ezines with responsive lists. Get yourself mentioned in those ezines, whether through ezine-swaps, paid ads, or articles. Wherever you think an experienced marketer will be, BE THERE.

The key is to imagine yourself as your audience. What are they looking for, and what do they need. If you can help them with an answer, you'll be on the way to starting a relationship, and hopefully a business partnership.

About the Author
Chris Raynor is the Sydney-based author of Home Business World (http://www.home-biz-world.com) For the Best Home Based Business Opportunities and Resources.