Do You Know Your Market?

One of the first steps to creating a successful business is identifying your target market, the market or group of people you wish to sell your products and services to. With the advancement of technology and business competition, it is more important than ever to have a well-defined target market.

While it would be amazing to have the funds and energy to target “everyone,” it is simply not possible or productive for the growth of your business. However, with a well-defined target market, you can focus your energy and funds on a targeted campaign that will speak directly to those most likely to join you on your journey or purchase your products.

Here are a few tips to help you begin to identify your target market:

1. Have a look at your current customers.
   If you don’t have any yet, make a wish list of your potential customers.
   You will want to determine why they are your customers or potential customers. Look for common interests and traits they possess. What issue are they currently facing? Do they lack in nutrition? Are they experiencing digestive issues? Do they need a boost to take their fitness to the next level? Are they in need of additional income? The key here is to determine why your customer or potential customer may be seeking your products or business opportunity.

   Chances are, there are more people like them who could benefit from your products or business opportunity.

2. Analyze the competition.
   It is important to know who your competition’s customers are. Who is your competition targeting? How are they reaching their market? Where are they lacking? Where are they excelling? Is there a gap that your product fills that theirs doesn’t?

   The goal is to identify a niche market you may be able to fulfill that others are not.

3. Analyze your features and benefits.
   Now that you know what your competition is doing have a look at your products and business opportunity. Identify the features and benefits that come with each product along with the business opportunity. It’s important to understand the difference between features and benefits. Features are the facts about your products and business opportunity; benefits provide the customer with a reason to buy your product or join your team, they explain how the product or business opportunity can improve your customer’s lives.

   For example, BioAgile is formulated with sustamine (a feature). Sustamine is an ingredient that is known to help your body recover and rehydrate after exercise (a benefit). If you are a person who trains often, this would be a great product to help keep you at the top of your game (a benefit of the benefit).

   Once you have your features and benefits list, you can better identify the type of people who may benefit from your products and business opportunity. However, this is still too general.

4. Identify your marketing demographics.
   Determine who your “buyer” or future business partner is. Demographics to consider include age, location, gender, income level, education level, marital/family status, and occupation.
   
   
5. Identify your marketing psychographics.
   Now determine why your customer makes a purchase or joins your business. Psychographic information includes habits, personality, hobbies, attitudes, values, spending habits, lifestyles, and behaviors.
   
   
6. Evaluate.
   By now you should have a solid understanding of who your target market is. Keep in mind, you may have more than one target market, and that is ok. It is important to consider how to approach each target market and the messaging that goes along with your approach.

   Now is the time to evaluate your target market(s) by considering some of the following questions:

   • Are there enough people that fit my target market(s)?
   • Does my target market have the funds to purchase the products or join my business opportunity?
   • Where is my target market spending time or hanging out online? How can I best reach them?
   • Will my target market see a need for my products or business opportunity? Will they really benefit from my products or business opportunity?
   • Do I understand what really drives my target market to make buying decisions?

   
   

   Defining your target market will take time, it is not an easy task. However, once you know who you are targeting, it makes it much easier to determine where to find them, how to reach them, and what messages will resonate best with them.

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