Understanding Your Target Market
You launch a product… but no one cares.
You spend time writing great content… but no one cares.
You build a website and start blogging… but no one cares.
It’s disheartening. It’s enough to make you want to give up in business. At the very least, you know you need a major overhaul to the way you’re doing things.
You’re envious of those who can release a new product and have it take off like gangbusters. You’re envious of popular bloggers and niche authority leaders who have the captive attention of the niche you’re trying to target.
What gives?
It’s not that you’re not working hard.
The answer? It might be the case that you just don’t understand your target market yet.
It’s so easy to just jump right into a niche and think you have all the answers. You have a great idea for a product or an interest in the topic and so you just dive right in. You write content, release products, and try so hard to do everything the right way.
You shake your fists in frustration when it doesn’t work out and you can’t figure out why.
I hope that this helps you figure things out. It’s something even the most seasoned of marketers forget to do sometimes.
Those who release hot selling products and seem to have an easy, profitable connection with their audience have a deep and solid understanding of the members of their niche. They understand their target market.
It takes time to develop this understanding, that’s for sure. You have to immerse yourself in the niche and really get to know people. This extra effort stresses some people out, sometimes enough to make them want to get out of marketing altogether.
But, I want to let you in on a little secret… you can start gaining an understanding of your target market as early as today.
That’s right. You can understand your target market enough to create a powerhouse product today. You can understand your target market to create a really awesome blog post that makes an impact and even goes viral. You can understand your target market enough, starting today, that you start to instinctively know what they need and want.
That’s pretty awesome. Doing this will put you ahead of most of your competition and put you in a league with those you admire in your niche.
Why You Need To Understand Your Target Market
You have to understand your target market so you know what people want and need and what they’re willing to pay for.
Know what questions they need answers to. Know what their deepest desires and emotions are.
If you don’t know your audience, you won’t know how to talk to them. It really shows when you don’t know what you’re talking about. People will click away and find someone who connects with them on that deeper level.
If you do know your audience, you’ll know on an instinctive level how you should word things. You’ll know how to position what you offer. You’ll know what people need and want.
You’ll know what to include and what not to include in products. You’ll know what to include in your blogs. You’ll know where your own knowledge falls short.
You simply can’t market effectively if you don’t understand your target market… it really is as simple as that.
How To Start Understanding Your Target Market, Today
No worries on getting started. You can gain a ‘good enough’ understanding of any target market today. It doesn’t matter if it’s a brand new niche for you or if it’s one you’ve been trying to target for years.
I recommend going where the people in your audience tend to be active and open. This is often on social media. Try to find your audience on Facebook groups and pages. See what they’re tweeting on Twitter. If it’s a business sort of market, check LinkedIn.
You can’t forget niche web forums. Find the most active ones. Sort the most active threads and the most viewed threads.
Find the most popular blogs in the niche. Read the most active current posts and the comments.
Take notes as you do all of this. Note the most frequently asked questions and the things people talk about the most. Note trends and what really gets people excited and emotional.
Take a look at the popular products that are being sold in the niche. What are the bestselling related digital and physical products? Take a look at related Amazon books. What’s selling well? What do people talk about the most in their reviews?
This process doesn’t have to be dull and boring. It can inspire you!
How to Gain a Deep Understanding of Your Target Market over Time
At first, you’ll sort of gather notes and get a feel for things. But, you want to get a feel for your target market over time.
That’s why I recommend you immerse yourself in the niche—you have to become part of it.
Join those Facebook groups and pages you found. Start tweeting things related to the niche. Join related forums. Comment on popular blogs.
Start becoming known around the niche. You can even start your own forums, groups, and pages. Start blogging and build your blog into one of authority.
Make it your mission to communicate in your niche every day. Answer people’s questions. Think about their emotions and what’s going on, on a deeper level. Really try to help these people, every day.
You’ll become a hero and an authority in your niche if you try to be really active and give more than you receive. You’ll also build your own understanding of the people of your target market every day. That sort of understanding is extremely valuable and can really help you succeed in a way that very few can.
This Is a Process That Happens Over Time
Remember that this is a process that happens over time. Yet, you can make great headway, starting today. It’s really kind of exciting to get an understanding of your target market, today and over time. It can also be extremely profitable. Understand your target market and you can win… in any niche you want to.