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An exercise in getting to know your target audience
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Many small business owners struggle with promoting themselves. They know they need to get the word out so they start to think about advertising. There are so many options when it comes to promotions. Where should you advertise? Print? Online? On the side of a bus? The key to answering these questions lies with the answer to another question……Who is your target audience?
Let’s use an example and say your target market is moms. Well, a mom can be many other things. This is a large and diverse group of people so let’s try to break it down further. Let’s pick one mom to be your ‘ideal’ customer.
Where does she live?
What kind of income does her family have (remembering she often controls the family income)
What kind of house does she live in? Does she rent or own?
When she gets dressed in the morning what does she wear?
Where would she have bought those clothes?
What does she make herself for breakfast? Does she make a big family meal or just have coffee while trying to get her kids out the door. Or maybe she prefers to drink tea?
When she piles the kids in the car what type of car is it? A minivan? Crossover SUV or is it a 1989 station wagon?
Once the kids are at school where does she go? Home, work or to a yoga class?
Ok, so I think you see where I’m going with this. In order to reach your target audience you need to get inside the head of your ideal customer. Think about the places they go, the magazines they read and the websites they surf.
If she owns her home, wears sweats and drives that 1989 station wagon then I doubt she’s reading the newest issue of Vogue so don’t worry about how you’ll afford to advertise there. Maybe the local paper would be a better fit so she sees your ads while placing a classified to get rid of her wagon.
If she wears a dress suit, drives an SUV, works full time and grabs a Starbucks on the way she may be reading that issue of Vogue on her lunch break. That’s a pricey publication to get into so think about some alternatives. What about putting up a flyer at her favourite lunch stop (she likely eats out instead of brown bagging it) or sponsoring her daughter’s soccer team?
If you’re thinking it’s all a bit stereotypical then you’re right, it is. Being too narrowly focused isn’t right either but, it’s a great starting point. Once you have a feel for your ideal customer you can branch out a little to expand your audience. This will give you a bit of room for error and hopefully your message will reach its target and you will begin to see a return on your investment.
H.E.Eigler also blogs at Maternal Spark - a blog for creative moms.
Get Ready For Power Publicity Version 2.0
If you were one of the first people to learn about the launch of IndieBizChicks.com last year, you probably remember the “Power Publicity!” guide.
This was a free guide that I used to generate some buzz about the launch of the website, and I gave it away to my first 100 subscribers.
I used the same techniques I wrote about in the guide to promote my own website and since launching the site - less than a year ago, I’ve received some amazing results.
And that leads me to the point of this whole email. I’m now working on “Power Publicity! Version 2.0″
This new, updated, bigger, better version will have all the stuff the first one had, PLUS some! In addition to the extra info, I’ll be sharing my own experiences throughout the past year.
I’m still putting the finishing touches on the new version, but in the meantime, I put together this free 5 day ecourse which will definitely get you started on your publicity journey!
You can grab it here: http://www.indiebizpublicity.com/ecourse.html
I’ll keep you updated and let you know as soon as Version 2.0 is ready!
Reform School For Email??
Did you realize that “email marketing” can be one of the most effective ways to generate sales? This is the process of starting a mailing list to collect the names of people interested in your business and your products or services. Whenever you create a new product or decide to have a sale or other promotion, you can email your past customers & the people you have requested to be on your mailing list.
Since these people have already expressed interest in hearing from you, they are more likely to purchase your products and services than somehow who has never heard of you.
If you are at a loss for what to say in these emails, don’t worry. I have your back! My friend and mentor, Alice Seba, has created a guide called “24 Ideas For Endless Email Topics” (click on the link to read it online, or right click it to save the guide to your computer).
Alice is also offering an Email Marketing Reform School to a very select group of 25 students. Registration begins May 12 and will close on May 19 (or when the 25 spots are taken, which ever comes first). Your lessons will be delivered via email, and you will also have access to a private coaching area where you can ask questions, receive feedback, etc. Click Here for more info.
Freebie Friday: Lots of free stuff for Indie Biz Chicks Day
Yep, yep - the day has come! It is officially Indie Biz Chicks Day. So, if you are a women in independent business, celebrate by taking a bit of time off to go do something nice for yourself.
Now what’s a holiday without presents?? Everyone LOVES presents! And I have some for you, and that includes guides on starting an online business, blogging, increasing your sales through the words on your site, tips on outsourcing and more (check out the line up at http://www.indiebizchicks.com/ibcday.html). If you are a subscriber to The Weekly Biz Tips, there should have been an email waiting for you this morning with the info on how to download the gifts.
And if you’re not a subscriber, you can subscribe through the box on the top right or through the link I mentioned in the above paragraph. Your gifts will be sent to you within a few moments.
Happy Indie Biz Chicks Day!
FREE FRIDAY: Web Traffic Secrets!!
For this week’s freebie, I want to tell you about an awesome program called The Truth about Traffic
This was put together by two of my mentors, Kelly McCausey & Alice Seba. This is a no-holds barred look at how to drive traffic to your site. It contains so much info, that it’s hard to list it all!
You get:
- Several audio recordings
- Written guide
- Cheat sheets
- Lists of press release submission sites, contest sites, article reprint directories, etc
- And MORE
Did I mention this was free??? Grab your copy of The Truth about Traffic today!