| Your niche audience is your goldmine, if
you know where to find them.
When you know who your audience is, the next step is
finding them, so you can ask them about their challenges and ambitions. That is, you start
your marketing.
Where do you find them? How do you get them to know who you
are, and opt-in to your list?
Think of ways to reach them in groups. This is especially
important when you're marketing on the Internet. For example, who else provides
information and services to your target audience? What associations do they belong to?
What networking groups? What meetings, seminars and conference s do they attend? Be
specific. Here's a specific example. If your audience is CEOs and you have a book to sell
to them, you might think that bookstores that carry a large selection of business books
would be a good strategy to use. However, CEOs don't usually go to bookstores; they send
one of their staff to buy the book for them. Pick a strategy that works for your audience.
Right-Away Action Steps:
1) Write a list of people who can use your expertise.
Be very specific here. It's not enough to say
"people", or even "men" or "women". Use quantifiable numbers
whenever you can, such as "Chief Marketing Officers of technology companies with
sales between $50 and 200 million". Or "managers in healthcare companies who
want to become executives". Or "business owners who want to retire within 5
years". If you already have a business, write down your best and favorite clients,
and clients you want to work with that you're not working with now.
2) Write a list of Web sites they visit, magazines they
read, networking and professional groups they belong to, and meetings they attend.
Where do they go to learn more about their business or what
interests them? List companies that also sell to your niche audience. Be specific.
3) Now, schedule times in your calendar to visit these Web
sites and read and perhaps subscribe to their newsletters.
The way that works best for me, especially when I'm the
busiest, is to start a folder with the lists of your niche audience and the Web sites,
magazines and organizations. I keep it handy, and take time to visit at least 1 or 2 sites
at the end of the day when I check my E-Mail for the last time. When my schedule changes
for some reason like a cancellation, I pick up the folder and visit a site.
Bonus Right-Away Action Step:
Find pictures in magazines of your "ideal
customer". Cut them out, and put them on your bulletin board, or frame them and hang
the picture or collage on the wall where you can see it every day. I've even given them
names, and it makes it much more personal. Remember, you're selling to a person, not
"everyone". Whenever you have a question about what services and products to
develop, or you're writing your newsletter, look at the picture and ask yourself
"What would Joanne or Stephen want?"
(c) 2005 Jan Wallen - All rights reserved. |
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