Ten Essential Questions to Ask Your Market, cont’d.

July 31, 2008 · Filed Under Client Acquisition · Comment

Now for the conclusion of an article by guest author, Donna Gunter, which gives

insight on how to identify your target market.

6. Location. Where do they hang out in real time — at church, the local

coffee shop, the hardware store, civic groups or professional association

meetings? What about online in discussion groups, blogs, forums, online

networking sites? Do they attend conferences or trade shows regularly? Can you

open the yellow pages of your phone book and find several listings that would

encompass your target market?

7. Information Gathering. What magazines, newspapers, email newsletters,

blogs, and professional trade publications do they read? What television

programs do they regularly watch? What kind of movies do they see? What kind of

online videos do they view?

8. Connections. With whom do they do business on a regular basis? Where

do they network online and offline? Who are their “natural referral partners”,

or other businesses who cater to the same target market but offer a different

service? Whom do they trust and respect?

9. Communication. How do they prefer to interact — in person, by email,

by webconferencing? Are there buzzwords or industry-specific terms that they use

frequently? What gets their attention?

10. Problems and Solutions. What are the key issues/problems/concerns

keeping them awake at night? Are they in enough pain that they’re willing to pay

you to solve their problem? Where are they seeking assistance to help solve the

problem? What kinds of products and services might they purchase to help solve

this problem — books, magazines, coaching, consulting, etc.?

Once you’ve completed several interviews, then compile the information you have

received and create a profile of your target market. Based on the info in this

profile, then answer these three questions:

1. Are there enough of them to make them viable as a group?

2. Would I enjoy working with this target market?

3. Do you offer ready solutions that would help this target market solve their

problems?

If the answers to those questions are all “yes”, have this profile available to

you as you plan your marketing strategy, write your website copy, create

information products, write articles, blog, or compose your email newsletter.

When you fully understand your target market, you are able to streamline and

focus your marketing, and you’ll wonder why you ever waited this long to define

your target market!

Online Business Resource Queen (TM) and Business Coach Donna Gunter helps service professionals learn how to automate their businesses, leverage their expertise on the Internet, and get more clients online. To sign up for more FREE tips like these and claim your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, visit her site at OnlineBizU.com. Ask Donna an Internet marketing question at AskDonnaGunter.com.

I specialize in creating customized marketing solutions for small business. Contact me at georgann at catchphrasemarketing dot com, or call me at 888-494-8445 to discuss how you can get more clients and increase profitability without increasing marketing expenses. Yes, you really CAN have it all!