Find out what the missing link may be in your defining your true target market.
I’m sure you’ve heard over and over the importance of having a “target market,” which is defined as a specific group of people who share similar qualities and problems that you and your business can solve. It is important to have a target market, because we can’t serve everyone, nor are we suited to do so. You’re probably saying, “Yeah, yeah, Bonnie, heard that before. Tell me something new.”
Okay, bear with me, and let’s keep moving along this line of thought…
Do you really want to work with “everyone”? My guess is your answer to this question would be “no”, because not everyone is an energetic match for you. You’re saying, “Huh?” What does she mean by an “energetic match”?
After coaching hundreds of entrepreneurs on this topic, and struggling with it personally myself, I have finally found the missing link in the “target market” talk. Typical target market talk only addresses the “outer” world. When asked to define your target market, you may have been asked in the past to identify your target market’s:
* Age* Sex* Marital status* Occupation* Problem they need solved
* Industry
* Number of employees
* Number of years in business
* Annual revenues
Let us pause for a second…does this information really help you narrow down your target market? Does it help you address a focused, specific message that will stand out and address what they all need? Probably not. I bet if you would get a room full of:
* 22 year old
* Female
* Single
* Bodybuilders…they are not all going to have the same problem, nor respond to the same marketing message.
What we are interested in is THE problem our target market needs solved, and we want to be THE chosen problem solvers.
Up to this point we have established that addressing only the “outer” world will not work to attract our target market. However, if we combine the outer world with the “inner” world, we will magnetize and attract our “Ideal Client” to our business. Shift your thinking from,” Who is my target market?” to “Who is my Ideal Client?”To move closer to identifying who your Ideal Client is, ask yourself these questions:
Let the answers to these introspective questions clue you in and lead you to defining who your Ideal Client might be. Answering these questions connects you to a type of person with whom you are a natural and energetic match. This way, you are drawn together like magnets, and your ideal client recognizes right away that working with you is necessary. They just “feel” it.Your ideal client is usually someone like you, who is sharing the same journey you are. However, they are ALWAYS in a different and earlier phase of the journey. To understand and embrace this concept is the golden egg. This is because your Ideal Client will recognize you have been where they are, and have successfully made the change. You have experience and wisdom., and can help them solve their problem.
When you get clear about whom your ideal client is, you can share the successful experience of your journey with them. And, they will pay you for doing this!
To help you define your Ideal Client, do the following action items:
1. Focus on the values and qualities of your Ideal Client.
2. What do these people have in common with you?
3. What “jazzes” them (Hint: it will jazz you, too!).
4. What do these people expect from you?5. Think about your journey. What did it take you to get where you are? Be willing to share this expertise, and profit from it.
Give yourself permission to seek out and work with your Ideal Client. Working with non-ideal people, with whom you do not share the same values, is depleting, and in my personal experience, non-productive and unprofitable.
Shift your focus to include the “inner” world when identifying your target market and Ideal Clients are. If you do, you will naturally attract more clients and income into your business.
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