Four Ways to Research and Understand Your Target Market
Read More: We all know that you will be much more successful if you market to a specific niche. And to market yourself in a genuine and compelling way, you must have in-depth knowledge of your target market, which means you have to do some research. Researching your niche is one of the steps I outline in my free report, "Ten Steps to Finding and Attracting Your Ideal Niche".
There are different ways you can seek to understand your target market.
- Demographics – focus on your target market’s outer life, such as their age, income, location, occupation, culture, race, and religion.
- Psychographics – describe your target market’s inner life, including their hopes, dreams, beliefs, fears, problems, needs, attitudes and values.
You might not be able to paint a complete picture, especially with regard to the demographics. Most important is that you understand your target market’s psychographics. Remember that every business exists to solve a problem or fulfill a need. So you need to dig deep to ensure that you understand your target market's problems and needs.
Your goal is to answer the following questions about your target market:
- What are their worries, fears, problems, challenges, painful circumstances?
- What is the source of these problems and fears?
- Are there strong emotions associated with that problem or need? What are they?
- What are they passionate about?
- What are their dreams, wishes, goals, desires, and needs?
- What is stopping them or holding them back from achieving their goals?
- How do they learn best and where do they go to seek information?
- Where do they hang out online?
You can do this research in different ways, and I would encourage you to explore all possible avenues.
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Interview your target market -- Interview a minimum of ten people in your potential target market to find out more about their goals, dreams, fears, problems and lifestyle. Ask them about their unmet needs – what needs do they have that aren’t being met. This is also a good opportunity to learn how to best reach your target market, both in terms of your marketing message and communication vehicles.You can do this research by speaking with people in your target market one-on-one. You can also distribute a survey aimed at your target market (e.g. to your mailing list, on a forum or discussion group where your target market hangs out, at a live event where your target market will be, etc.) - Immerse yourself in the target market -- Find groups, forums and social media sites where you target market hangs out. Just sit back and observe them. See what they’re talking about, the language they use, their questions and challenges. Subscribe to relevant online newsletters and magazines.
- Assess the competition – Discover what your competitors are doing to serve and attract this niche. Subscribe to their newsletters and RSS feeds. Buy some of their products and services (where possible). Identify their strengths and weaknesses. Look for ways to improve upon what they are doing. Also look for unfilled niche opportunities. Is there a sub-category of this niche that is being underserved and that you can help?
- Keyword research - An important part of researching your niche is keyword research. You want to know what phrases that people enter when doing searches on the internet on search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc. I won't go into details on keyword research here, but understand that you must know what keywords your target market is using so that you can bring targeted traffic to your site. Targeted traffic means people who are actually looking for your products or services.
You will use the information you collect from your research in two powerful ways:
- Develop your products and services so that they meet your target market’s needs
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Incorporate in your marketing so you can connect with your target market at an emotional level. What are their hot buttons and core emotional desires? Remember that people buy with their emotions and justify with logic.
Learn more about how to connect with your target market, by downloading your free report "Ten Steps to Finding and Attracting Your Ideal Niche".
About the Author: Cindy Schulson
Company: No Company Entered
I'm a Distributor For:: No Distributor Selected
Industry: Coach
Primary Web Site: http://www.attractyourniche.com
Who is your customer? What do you KNOW for sure?
Thanks for this article, Cindy. Your four ways to do research to understand your target market are clear and detailed. I've been planning to do a survey of my list AND now that you've suggested it, I think more in-depth interviews of about 10 people would mine some really rich information. I wonder how many of us have tried the second strategy you suggest, immersion through hanging out online where our market hangs out. What works to find those cyber hang-outs?
Cyber hang outs
Thanks for the feedback Kate. Here are a few tips on finding those cyber hang-outs, and I'm sure others have ideas to contribute. One is to look for discussion groups and forums aimed at your target market. So for instance, if your target market is realtors, just type in realtors and "discussion groups" or realtors and forums.
You can also find groups aimed at your target market on social networking sites like Facebook. Just go to the groups section on Facebook and do a search for your target market. You can do a similar search for yahoo groups.
Another idea is to look at the websites of leaders in your niche and see what kind of memberships they are a part of. That will lead you to some interesting sites aimed at your target market.
I hope that helps, and please do add your ideas!
thanks,
Cindy
Targeting your Niche and Hanging out with them.
Cindy, first off congrats on the free report, impressive.
Lately, I have been doing much of what you are discussing here. Hanging out with people that are in my niche. Some of the places that I have been are Linkedin and Bright Fuse.
Also, Like you said, just talking with people and listening to what they are saying, brings about a wealth of information. I am also convinced that you cannot understand your niche till you immerse yourself in it. This is an amazing growth process.
And if you don't hit it the first time around try,try again. It gets easier as skills mature.
Thank you for the ideas.
Where they hang out
Hi Angela - thanks for the feedback. You raise a great point. Where does your target market hang out online? There are social networking sites and forums for every target market under the sun! And one more point that is basic but a good reminder -- when you join these sites or discussions, focus on building relationships and adding value. Not blasting your products/services/opportunities. thanks again!
Pyschographics, knowing and understanding your market
Cindy, your article and report make it clear that successful business people doing their job well take a very long, careful look at who they are marketing to.
This also implies a professional, contemplative, engaged approach to understanding their market and therefore effectively writing, marketing to gain their responsive attention.
To get the job done well,means doing your marketing thoughtfully and deliberately.
Strategic Marketing
So well said Pat. I love that strategic part -- and especially love helping my clients with it. A lesson I've learned is that marketing is an ongoing process and commitment, and it does take dedicated time. But your results are so much faster when you take a strategic, focused approach. Thanks for sharing your ideas!