Your No BullSh*t Guide To Figuring Out Your Perfect Target Market

How many times have you searched the internet for some guidance on how to define your target market? I know there are millions of articles out there, telling you to create a target persona with the person’s name and interests and where they are from and hobbies, age, marriage status, demographics and psychographics…and while that is perfectly fine, what if you JUST DON’T KNOW?

If you already have a website with analytics set up, it is easier to find that data. But if you are starting out, you may not know. You will have some idea of who you want to target, but all of the other information is just confusing.

DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE WORKBOOK

To make this process easier, I created a FREE workbook for you to help you figure out your perfect target market.

DO I REALLY NEED TO KNOW ALL OF THAT?

While knowledge is power, it’s not necessary to start out with full, in-depth knowledge of your target market. And saying that, I know that there are a lot of people out there that will shoot me for that statement, but it is true. The more important thing to know is: What are your client’s pain points, and how are you able to solve them? So the big question is, how do you get to that answer?

Lucky for you, I created a step-by-step guide to help you do just that.

1. REVERSE ENGINEER

One of the most effective strategies that I managed to come up with, is to reverse engineer your perfect client. We’ve all had that absolutely horrible client that, no matter how much they pay you, you are not willing to work with them again.

So, to reverse engineer your perfect client, get a pen and paper or open a new document on your computer, and write down the answers to this:

Why didn’t you like the client? Were they stingy and didn’t want to pay you your worth? Or did they not have a big enough budget and expected you to adjust your fees to fit them?

What about their personality or values? Where there something your worst client expected you to do that went against what you believe in?

Ask yourself exactly what it was that you disliked working with that horrible client.

OPPOSITE LIST

Now, take your list, and flip it. Write down the opposite of the bad clients. For example:

– They wanted to have the best but pay the minimum = My perfect client wants the best and is willing to pay for it.


– They didn’t know what they want and told me that they will ‘tell me when they see it.’ = They are go-getters that know what they want or would allow me to guide them to that knowledge.

PAIN POINTS

Now that you know what kind of clients you really want, let’s look at your products or services and think about why people will be interested in buying them. What problems do your products or services solve?

ChatGPT is a fantastic tool to use to figure out your client’s pain points. You can use this prompt and add your product or Services:

I need you to help me figure out the pain points that my clients might experience. I am a {add your job title here} and {a general description of your service or product}.

ChatGPT will give you a good starting point, depending on your products or services. I do suggest that you do your own research as well, asking Google questions like: “What pain points might someone experience that (insert your service or product) might solve.” Three other brilliant resources are:

  1. Answer The Public
  2. Answer Socrates and
  3. Quora

 

Type in your product and service in the search bar, and these websites will show you what people are asking about it. It might also give you an idea of what pain points they might be experiencing.


Now that you know who you don’t want and what pain points you can solve, we move on to:

STEP 3: Exactly who are they?

Think about your product or service. Who do you think will be most likely to buy it?

Let’s say you’re selling handmade soaps. You only use organic ingredients and your packaging is environmentally friendly. Who will buy this?

  1. Anyone that cares about their environment and a zero-waste lifestyle. These people are probably nature lovers.
  2. They believe in organic solutions and want to cut chemicals from their life, as they realise how harmful it is to their health.
  3. A majority of these people are women because they have motherly instincts that guide them to the best lifestyle for themselves and for their families.
  4. People will buy handmade soap because they want to support small and local businesses.
  5. They have the same values and beliefs as you do.
  6. They may have sensitive skins, which are aggravated by the chemicals in commercial soaps.

 

Sometimes the best way to find these answers are to ask your current clients questions. Ask them why they rather buy your product or service, rather than someone else’s.

WHAT IF I HAVE DIFFERENT OFFERINGS THAT TARGET DEMOGRAPHICS?

Let’s say you sell skin care products for women and in the same shop, beard oil for men. Two different target markets, right? The best is to go through the above exercise for each target market that you need to target. That way you’ll know exactly when you’re speaking to whom and how to reach them more effectively.

CONCLUSION

Now that you know who you DON’T want as a client, what kind of person you do want, what problems you solve for them and who they might be, you will have better success in speaking directly to the person that will be interested in actually purchasing your product or service.

DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE WORKBOOK

To make this process easier, I created a FREE workbook for you to help you figure out your perfect target market.

SHARING IS CARING!

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