Defining Your Target Market

Trying to determine who your ideal customers and clients are does not have to be a struggle.

Take a moment and clear from your mind that 'everyone is your customer' as that is truly not the case.  Now unless you are selling air, then likely you can not verify or qualify everyone on the planet as your customer.

So next time you think about striking up that conversation with the random stranger at the supermarket who is focused on getting the perfect banana's, know that there is a better way.  That person might not have any desire for your product (unless you possibly sell some sort of blender which could make amazing smoothies for them!)

For example, I promote lacrosse training equipment like the Lacrosse Powershaft which is a weighted training lacrosse shaft.  Now it would do me no good to set up a tent for vending at a baseball tournament or camp as those two seasons happen at the same time and not too many people play both.  While there might be a random sibling there who plays, it is highly unlikely I get much good traction from that event.

Setting up at a lacrosse tournament or placing an ad inside of a physical print lacrosse magazine is going to be much more targeted.

But just slapping some add up with my website address or a discount is not going to grab attention when you are looking to get the super targeted customers that you truly want.

You want to pull on their heartstrings and their fears, desires and dreams!  You want them to feel it in the process as though they feel you are speaking directly to them.

It's not about the product...It's about the solution to their problem.  That is what they want.

They don't just want the hammer, they want to have beautiful pictures of their family hanging all over their house.

They don't just want the new tires, they want to safely arrive on a weeklong getaway at the beach with their kids and make memories.

They don't just want to pass the test, they want to avoid the disappointment of failure.

I hope you are starting to get the idea here!

These are some of the outcomes I have learned by going through the Attraction Marketing Formula and recently attending their live event in Las Vegas that I am going to be sharing over a series of posts in the coming weeks so make sure you are subscribed to know when the next ones come out.

Defining your target market is and should be one of the first things you figure out and then you can branch out from there in all of your content creation from ads, to websites/capture pages/follow up pages, social media posts, emails and much more.

One of the strategies they share is creating a table to help figure out your target market which consists of 5 columns: Problems, Fears, Desired Results, Dreams and Lingo.

• Problems: What are they struggling with/what's the problem
• Fears: Personally what are they afraid of in the scenario
• Desired Results: What do they want to achieve
• Dreams: Think big here with their world views aspirations
• Lingo: What is the language that people in that market would understand

Coming up with a list of about 7-10 items for each category is the first steps to really defining your target market and then with all of these pieces you can re-purpose content to reflect those 5 major pieces to draw in and attract your true targeted customer.

Here is an example of one for the health and fitness niche:

Problems

• Gained weight
• Out of shape
• Health problems
• Can't keep up with kids
• Clothes don't fit
• Family medical history
• Tired
• Not happy with looks
• Lack of time
• Made fun of
• Weak

Fears

• Won't lose weight
• Won't get stronger
• Not enough time
• Won't be consistent
• Will get made fun of
• Will get hurt
• Put weight back on
• Will fail
• Will lose friends

Desired Result

• Lose weight
• Clothes fit better
• Feel great
• More energy
• Muscle tone improves
• Confidence goes up
• New wardrobe
• See others get strong
• Successful

Dreams

• Get the girl/guy
• Others want to know how?
• Longer life
• Enjoy time with kids
• Write book on the journey
• Growing a team
• Debt free
• World travel

Lingo

• Weight loss
• Get fit
• Ribbed abs
• supplements
• whey powder
• energy booster
• beach body
• muscle failure
• lose a belt size
• 7 minute workout

Now each target market is going to have different things that can be put into each of the categories, though the more you place into them the more you have to work for in growing your true 'target market' of potential clients so that you can mold your copy and content around to attract the right people to you, your brand and your products.

Having personal experience with the same problems, fears, desires and dreams is going to be a major benefit for your research as well as the follow up compared to just picking a random product that you know nothing about to promote.  Remember people often want to buy and join people they know, like and trust, so be sure to allow yourself to come through your marketing copy and stories you share in the process.

If you have a couple niches you are interested in be sure to do this activity with both (or all) of them to see which one you really might be more inclined to work with and have more experience with.  If you can only come up with a few bullets for each column then you might want to reconsider that niche, though if you can come up with many and keep writing about it from personal experience then by all means focus on that niche.

For more in-depth training and strategies on developing your target market and the next steps to take in your ad copy and content creation be sure to check out the Attraction Marketing Formula here!

Target growth Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay