How to Target Your Audience

When I started my current business after my book Thriving at 50+ was published, I thought the audience I'd serve was a no-brainer.

I would target people like those I wrote about in my book, people 50+ who needed help reinventing themselves and creating a new career.

Never mind that I had no experience in career counseling.

And forget that I was ignoring my decades of marketing and branding experience.

I attracted a small handful of people 50+ who were out of work, with little budget to pay for my services.

Not exactly an ideal audience.

Tired of pulling out my hair, I hired a coach to help set me straight.

I realized with the coach's help that not only didn't I have a viable, well-defined niche. But also I wasn't playing to my strengths.

Of course, I should have known better. But often you're blind to yourself and need outside perspective for focus.

I redefined my target audience to people I could truly help: Small business owners, including coaches and consultants, who needed to nail their marketing and positioning and grow their business.

Many small business owners are accomplished in what they do. But not necessarily skilled in articulating what they do nor in growing their business.

Which is exactly what I love to do and where my expertise lies.

Once I changed my target audience everything fell into place.

And now I have a viable business working with small business owners, including coaches and consultants. Many of whom it turns out are 50+, if not 40+.

Here's the Lesson: Defining your target audience is the most important first step any small business takes.

Before I continue, let's clarify exactly what I mean by a target audience.

Don't worry. It's not complicated. It's the people you serve or want to serve using your expertise, and who will buy what you sell.

The latter is extremely important. You might have an underserved market but if your target audience can't afford you offerings, you're wasting your time.

So how do you define your target audience? These are the data points to consider:

• Age
• Gender
• Educational level
• Size of business, including revenues
• Industry or industries
• Location
• Problems or difficulties incurring

And here are 6 questions to ask yourself:

?What benefit do you offer that will help your target audience?

?What problems do you solve?

?Why should your target audience trust you to solve their problems?

?What in your background and past experience gives you credibility?

?Have you worked with similar people? Do you have case studies or testimonials to share?

Want more inspiration? Here is an example of a target audience:

Professional, college-educated women, age 30-50, living in the greater NYC area, holding a full-time job, while raising children and running a household. They feel over-whelmed trying to do it all, are anxious and stressed. They need a better way of managing.

Have you defined your target audience?

Without it, you'll waste time and energy missing the people, who need and want your product or service.

How are you defining your target audience? How has doing so helped you market your business? Please share in the comments.

#marketing #smallbusiness #coaches #consultants

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I help small business owners, including coaches and consultants, nail their messaging, branding and marketing to grow their business. Schedule a?free Power Positioning call with me.