Objective: Show you how to target a market of people to sell to.

Action: Write out a description of your target market.

Target Your Market

Finding your target market is a huge area of confusion for many people. How do you identify your target market? What do you do when you find them? How do you know you have the right group of people?

These are all frequently asked questions that we receive quite often.

The first thing you have to do is target a group of people you want to sell your product to.

Once you've selected your target marketing, you're going to find they come in really handy! So you'll want to select one. This whole game of marketing can be compared to fishing. Your target market is the pond you fish in. IT'S WHERE THE FISH ARE!

The best thing to do in finding a target market is to get one where there are plenty of hungry fish. If you're trying to get the fish to bite your bait, but there are no fish in your pond or the fish there aren't hungry, you're in for a long fishing day.

I'm going to give you a system to find a target market. But you probably won't even need it. Why?

Because it's common sense. A target market is a group of people you understand and can relate to. It's a group of people with COMMON problems or needs with the money and desire to buy a solution.

If people don't have common needs and wants, you don't have a target market. Why? Because every solution you provide would have to be unique.

It's best if you relate to the people you're selling to because that way you are most likely to already KNOW what they want. Why? Because you ARE one of them. Plus, your prospects will relate to you better since you are one of them.

If you're a CPA, sell a product to CPA's or others in that industry. If you're a mortgage broker, sell to other mortgage broker's or the vendors and suppliers in that industry.

If you're in real estate, sell to people in the real estate business.

A target market is crucial because YOU CAN'T AFFORD TO ADVERTISE TO EVERYONE IN THE WORLD! By narrowing down your focus, you can afford to reach your prospects with your message.

There is no magazine you can buy an ad in that reaches everyone in the world. And if there were, you probably couldn't afford the ad. And even if you could, out of all the people in the world, how many of them are prospects for what you sell? If you aim at everybody, you'll hit no one.

Let's say you operate a magazine store.

Would you be more likely to buy an Internet marketing book called: How to advertise on the Internet or one called How to advertise your retail store on the Internet?

You'd buy number two right? Why? Because it applies more specifically to your needs. And what if there was a third product called How to advertise your magazine store on the Internet.

Now which of the 3 products are you going to buy?

In the advertising business, they talk about CPM, cost per thousand people reached. But that concept is off. The true measure is CPMPR.

That is Cost Per Thousand PROSPECTS who READ your ad!

See, you could advertise in the local paper. But the cost per thousand doesn't matter if only 1 person in 1,000 is a prospect. Your TRUE cost is the cost to reach 1,000 real prospects.

And that isn't even a good measure either. If your ad appears in a magazine or newsletter that goes to your prospects, but no one actually reads it, you're still screwed.

You need to reach real prospects that SEE your ad. And beyond that, the bottom line is: CPO. Cost per order. Because what if prospects see your ad but don't buy. CPM or CPMR is a guide. But the real bottom line is cost per order or cost per inquiry.

So here's what we're talking about.

Step one: There is a large group of people with a problem.

How large? Large enough that you can make a good living selling your products and services to them.

Step two: You are able to reach that group of people with the message about your solution.

If you have the solution but no way to reach them that is affordable, you're sunk. Is there a magazine you can advertise in? Ezines you can run ads in? Newsletters you can write articles for? Direct mail lists you can send promotions to?

How to find this information.

a. Go to: http://www.google.com

b. Type in "magazines and _________" In the blank, fill in a word for your target marketing. For example, "magazines and dentists." If you were to do this, you would find a link to this list:

http://www.dentistry2000.com/dentaljournals/

c. Type in "newsletters and_____________", "ezines and _________", and "advertising and ___________", "mailing lists and ____________", "card decks and__________"

d. Compile a list of resources to reach your target market

If you can't find magazines, newsletters and ezines, how are you going to get your message out to your target market? A friend of mine had whole training courses for her target market. The problem was, there was no way to get a list of them.

A good source for card decks is venturedirect.com

Step three: The group of people WANTS your solution.

Maybe they need it but don't want it. You need people who WANT your solution. How do you know what they WANT? We teach a 12-product survey system where they select one out of 12 products. We'll talk about this in a second.

How do you get people to take your survey? Do what market research companies do. Pay them $5, $10 or more. You can also go to meetings and conduct a survey there with people you meet. Or call people on the phone. Put a survey on your web site and so forth.

Step four: The group can AFFORD your solution.

If no one has the money to buy what you're selling, that's called a problem.

In some businesses, you may have many target markets. For example, a real estate agent may have one series of direct mail letters that goes out to newlyweds. That's a target market.

Another series of direct mail letters may go out to people recently divorced! That's another target market.

There may be a series of prospecting letters that go out to people who have just had a baby. That's another target market.

There may be another series of letters that go out to out-of-town homeowners.

Another series of letters could go out to people who are 35+ years old and live in apartments.

See how that works? You can target different markets with your prospecting and sell them all the same product. The real estate agent has only two basic services. He or she can list your home or help you buy one.

Yet, those two services can be sold to many people in what are called SITUATIONS.

You target people in different situations who would be in the market for your products or services.

Here are the specifics:

The reason you target a market is so you can focus your marketing energies. You can't sell to everyone! It's very expensive to buy advertising and so forth. The more focused your market is, the easier it is to reach and the less it costs you to do so.

Here are a few other important points about your target market:

Step Five: Find out if your target market has money to spend.

Of course, if you're following my advice, you KNOW they have money to spend because they are already buying products similar to yours. It's hard to sell to broke people.

When I started out in marketing, I did not understand this. I tried selling insurance to a man who received his Christmas turkey from the local church. Yet, I couldn't understand why he couldn't buy insurance from me!

Step Six: Verify that you can reach your target market.

If you can't find a category for your target market at Link Exchange or other places where you can buy advertising, that spells trouble.

If your target market is highly specialized, see if you can find forums that target it in search engines. Just type in "your category and forum". For example, "real estate and forums." 

You will then have to market your web site via free publicity in trade or niche publications, magazines and newsletters.  If you can't find any of those, then you need to look for another target market.

The most important things are being able to reach your target market and then finding a target market that has money and spends it on products like yours. You can reach your target market online or offline.

Perhaps you find direct mail lists you can rent. Those are the way you reach your target market with your message.

Here's an example. Let's say you sell start-up consulting services to businesses. So you obtain lists of companies who have just filed articles of incorporation in your state and you send them a direct mail letter or postcard offering a free report: How to Avoid the 10 Most Common Business Start-up Mistakes.

Here's something else that is really important.

Step Seven: Develop 12 product ideas based on what your target market already buys -- EVEN if you already have products to sell.

KEY POINT: Do this even if you have many products to sell. Why? Because we are going to concentrate on selling just one -- the hottest one!

After all, you have to sell ONE first -- before you can sell many.

I want you to put together a list of 12 KILLER product ideas. If you already have products to sell, and KNOW what your best seller is, you can skip the survey.

But if you don't know which one is the best seller for the SPECIFIC target market you've identified, you still need to do the survey.

When you're creating this list of 10-12 product ideas, here's what I want you to do: Base a number of your product ideas on things that have already sold successfully.

If you want to create a successful product, sell something that is ALREADY selling! Trailblazers are often broke because they sell something that people are not ready to buy. If you want to make sure people are going to buy your product, sell something that people are already buying -- but add a unique twist or angle.

The fastest, simplest and easiest way to do this is to buy magazines relating to your hobby or special interest. Actually, if it's really a hobby or interest, you probably already subscribe to magazines, newsletters, ezines and the like.

Look through these magazines for ads by other companies. Find information products that are already being sold successfully then put a new twist on the idea.

SELL SOMETHING PEOPLE ARE ALREADY BUYING TO THE PEOPLE WHO ARE ALREADY BUYING IT! BUT ADD YOUR OWN UNIQUE TWIST THAT MAKES IT DIFFERENT, BETTER AND MORE BENEFICIAL.

If a product is being sold by the same company for over a year, you can bet it's profitable.

Here's another method: Go to: http://www.edithroman.com. This is a site sponsored by Edith Roman list brokerage that allows you to search a huge database for available mailing lists.

Let me explain. Let's say hypothetically that you sell 20,000 copies of your audio recording. You have a list of 20,000 product buyers. You can take your list on computer diskette to a list broker, and they'll make it available for a fee to others who want to mail your list. Most lists range $70-$150 for one-time usage.

In exchange for making your list available, you get a fee every time someone rents it.

Here's the point, by looking at the lists available for rent, you KNOW what other companies have been able to sell successfully. In addition, by looking at their most recent names available (called "hotline" names), you can know how many products are being sold a month or a quarter.

At the Edith Roman site, you can also view a copy of the list rental card that gives you information such as the age and sex range of the buyers. This helps you select a target market.

NOTE: Last time I tried to use the edithroman.com list search service, I had problems. If you have problems, in America you can go to any large library and use the Direct Mail Rates and Data books published by Standard Rates and Data Corporation to do the same thing.

You can also buy online access to these books although it is not cheap. The URL is http://www.srds.com

Finally, you can call a list broker (such as Edith Roman) and they can usually get for you a copy of the mailing piece being used to sell the product. A former client of mine has a favorite saying, "Do NOT create mediocrity when you can copy genius."

This doesn't mean you steal copy or words from the mailing piece. But it does mean you can see what worked in selling those customers once and incorporate the same types of appeals and offers in your mailing.

If you don't have a computer, you can obtain the same type of information by going to your library and finding Direct Mail Rates and Data, which is published by the Standard Rates and Data Service.

The point is this: When coming up with your product ideas, give serious thought and consideration to topics and ideas that people have ALREADY proven they want to buy by spending their cash.

Then base your product idea on the same basic premise or theme.

It's important to add your own unique twist or angle. For example, selling a general "How to make money on the Internet" product is very difficult right now. Why? Because there are already a million products on the topic.

YOU DON'T WANT TO BE THE FIRST IN THE CATEGORY!

The way to make money is to find out what people want to buy by looking at what they spend their money on.  Then find a unique angle and sell them something else!

Adding an angle or twist is called coming up with your Key Differentiating Advantage or KDF.  Some people call it a USP for Unique Selling Proposition.  The important thing is that you offer your customers an advantage they want and can't get from other products.

If they want it, they have to buy your product or service.

There's an interesting tension here between being unique and not being a trailblazer. First is GOOD if you're selling a first based on a proven demand. But if you’re first to sell something to an unproven demand, that is risky.

So there is a difference between being first to come out with a certain benefit and first in the whole entire freakin' category!

Action:  Pinpoint your target market and come up with a list of 12
product ideas based on products your market already buys.

Write your description here: _________________________________

___________________________________________________________

Checklist:

* What magazines, newsletters, web sites and ezines can you use
to reach your target market?

Web sites: ____________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

Ezines: _______________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

Magazines: ___________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

Card decks: ___________________________________________

Mailing lists: ___________________________________________

* How much will it cost to buy a lead generation ad in each of those?

Do your research and find out. Write your results below.

Web sites: __________________________________________

Ezines: _____________________________________________

Magazines: __________________________________________

Card decks: __________________________________________

Mailing lists: _________________________________________