No matter how unique my service is. I had t make sure that I was marketing to the right audience because if I try to market my product and service to the wrong people, I’ll quickly go out of business. SO the first thing I did after getting my team was to define who my target market is. You can’t be all thing to all men.
A niche market is a specific group of people or businesses who wants and needs your products and services, and can afford to pay for it. Because am targeting a smaller number of people with the same amount of money. I’ll get more for my money because I’m spending more per prospect than I would if I market to a bigger market.
One huge advantage of niche marketing is that its client centred! And that’s because I’m finding specific value added solutions that helps them solve their problem and meet their needs.
How did I find my niche: I answered these questions
1. Who are my best clients?
2. What do my best clients have in common?
• Income
• Geographic Location
• Number of children
• Age
• Lifestyle habit and hobbies
• Employments type
• What car they drive
• Number of employees
• Number of offices
3. Who are my worst clients?
Who are my worst clients with regard to the income they generate, how difficult it is to work with them and how much profit will they generate.
What do my best clients have in common?
1. Where can my prospect be found?
• At home, what time are they at home, what neighbourhood do they live?
• Where do they work?
• What organizations do they belong to?
• What conference or workshops do they attend?
• What other professionals service provide them services?
• What website do they visit frequently?
• What directories are they listed on?
• What publications do they read?
• What radio station do they listen too?
• Speak to a list broker to find out if these groups has a mailing list (90% of the time there is always a list- no matter how obscure the niche might sound)
• Where do they network?
4. Do I have any expertises related to specific types of business or people?
I notice that I have experience with working with service professionals. People like to buy from people that have “been there and done that” and walked in their shoes. If you have experience as a practitioner in a niche you’ll have an advantage selling to that niche.
5. Can I easily contact my niche?
I will not choose a niche that doesn’t have an association, a trade publication, or hold conference, because these are the primary tools for contacting my prospects fast and fuelling my word-of-mouth effort.
6. Can the niche afford my products and service?
The niche that ‘am marketing too needs to be affluent enough to buy my products and service without having to worry too much about over spending.
7. Is there a successful track record of selling my type of products and services to this niche?
8. How much competitions are there in the niche
It’s better to jump up and down in a pond than an ocean. The more competitors I have to deal with, the more aggressive my marketing effort will have to be to be the winner.
9. Is the nice big enough to sustain your business?
I have to enter a niche that has the economic to sustain my business over time. One of the first calculations you should do when deciding a niche is a breakeven assessment. The assessment tells you hoe much of the market you have to penetrate just to breakeven in the first year.
Steps I took to find my niche locally:
1. I looked in the yellow pages under the business category. I looked at what my competitors are doing, what they are not doing, and what appeals to me. I wrote it all down.
2. I went to my local library and look at several different yellow pages directories in different locations to get more information.
3. By now I had a good understanding of what gaps- weakness (as well as strengths) each of these competitors has.
4. Then I rang them up and ask them to send me information on their services. You may want to ask a friend to do this for you. By getting these information you now get more details about their business
5. Then I rang at least 15 potential prospects from my niche. I told them that I was thinking about starting a business that helps them solve their problems and you really like to ask them a few questions. Most of them will be happy to help but you must make it clear you are not trying to sell them anything.
6. Now I have everything I needed to find out what my prospect would like and dislike, what my competitors are not providing and what I’ll like to do.
Because I was also planning on going online I took these steps to find my niche online:
1. I checked online for my preferred business. I looked at what my competitors are doing, what they are not doing, and what appeals to me. I wrote these all down.
2. I research where my competitors gathered. Visit online discussion groups at:
• Yahoo: http://groups.yahoo.com
• Google: http://groups.google.com
• MSN: http://groups.msn.com
Then I did a search to find people in the profession I’ve chosen. I just entered the name of the profession in the search box and waited for what came up.
I did the same with online networking groups at:
• Ecadamy: www.ecadamy.com
• Ryze: www.ryze.com
• Linkedin: www.linkedin
You can use the same technique to find organizations and associations of your potential clients.
3. I participated in discussions on their boards, forums and blogs. Join the groups that interest me, began reading their discussion, and start posting questions as well as answer post by others. I got involved in conversations. By doing this I was able to accomplish these few things:
• I became more knowledgeable about the niche.
• I discovered how to find and reach prospects in the niche
• It was now easy for me to decide if the niche I’m planning in pursuing is profitable niche to build a business around.
Go to www.goole.com and search on “profession name + association”. For example, “healing arts association”. This is where you can find if your chosen profession has a membership site.
Having answered all these questions you should have a good idea of the type of people and business you would like to focus on.
Craft your ideal client profile
I’m going to ask you to stop serving anyone and everyone that comes your way. I know this sound contradicting. It isn’t? It’s actually the core of you having a successful business, believe it or not.
Before I move forward, here are several things that universally constitute my ideal client:
1. Those I really enjoy working with.
2. Those who need my help badly.
3. Those who recognize that working with me is essential
4. Those who will get great results from working with me (and write testimonials to prove it)
5. Those who will tell others about me and refer other clients over and over again
6. Those who can easily be identified and contacted
7. Those who are happy to pay my worth without negotiating
I wanted a business full of these types of people (Trust me, it’s a lot more fun and it’s not difficult to get). To have a business filled with these types of people, I needed to stop marketing to anyone and everyone and start targeting a specific target audience.
Here are a few steps I used to craft my ideal client profile:
1. I got specific about, who my best clients are.
To do this I started thinking about my most favourite client or a classic client I'll like to work with. Someone that fits the criteria I outlined earlier.
2. The I wrote down my ideal clients situation that I can solve, their struggles, and any other common denominating aspects that would a requisite for being the best client for my product and service
Try using these steps to define your target audience and craft you ideal clients too.
Try using these steps to define your target audience and craft you ideal clients too.
If you have any questions at all about this just leave a comment, I’ll replay immediately.
Love and success,
Joyce
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Online entrepreneur Joyce Oladipo, "Business Growth Queen," is creator of the winning Attractive Marketing E-zine to Jumpstart Your Business offline and online. To learn to Grow You Business In Less Time wth Ease sign up for FREE how-to articles and FREE audio class, at www.BeAWealthyEntrepreneur.com.
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