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Internet Marketing Tip: Identifying Your Target Market

Written by: Robin M Powers

Article Overview: A great internet marketing tip: Answer the questions; Who are the people out looking for you? What do you know about them?

Internet Marketing Tip: Identifying Your Target Market

A great internet marketing tip: Answer the questions; Who are the people out looking for you? What do you know about them? What are they doing to find you? What are they looking for? What problems do they have that they are willing to spend money to solve? These are the questions that should consume you.

Marketing is about people. The health of your business depends on how well you know the people who are looking for you and how well you capture their attention once you find them?

So who are they? How can you get to know them? How do you easily find them? This is a process about questions. And here we will ask a whole bunch of good ones.

Create a profile of your ideal customer. The best way to start is to imagine a favorite customer that you have right now. Use what you know about this great person to answer the following questions:

* What is the age range of your target market?

* What do they do for a living?

* How much money do they make?

* What are their interests and hobbies?

* How does your ideal customer see themselves?

* Where do they eat?

* What do they wear?

* Married or not?

* What are their problems and frustrations?

* Now for the most critical question, where can you find them easily online?

On the internet we have an amazing opportunity to get to answers very quickly.

You can go to the various online groups, blogs and forums to find your people. Once you are there, you can actually ask the experts on your business: Your target market.

Make a point of getting to know these people. They have something important for you: the keys to your business success! These are the people who are out looking for you. What are they looking for? How are they frustrated? What are they spending money on?

By hanging out in forums, groups and blogs you can not only find the answers to these questions, you can learn the language to use when you go to market to them. This language becomes the backbone of your sales letters, emails and marketing pieces when you go to offer a solution in the form of a product.

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Article Tags: backbone, blogs, business success, critical question, frustrations, health, how much money, interests and hobbies, internet marketing, sales letters, spending money, target market



Related Forum Posts
Re: How should i promote a new website? - ignore this message IF it's already been stated. I haven't had a chance to read all the replies and i have to jet from the office... I suggest marketing where ever your Target Market congregates. If it's a forum of concerned parents - go there. Strike up a deal with the forum owner (JV) and have him promote it to the list of members (Integration Marketing). If you want to go with Forums then i would partner with a parent who is a frequent poster/moderator on a particular Target Market Forum and have him/her add your link to their signature. That was just a thought but it's not as intense once you get buy in from the Forum owner or high ranked poster/moderator. Hope that sparks some new ideas.
War Time clothing niche - Dan, interesting niche. Can you share some of your lessons learned in the following areas: 1. Marketing (Target market? and how you reach them) 2. Do you dropship or stock the products yourself? 3. How do you encourage repeat sales by your current customers? We don't get too many people in the Internet Business share these experiences. Your timing with the niche seems appropriate with war on everyones mind in the States. Do you find that during the last few years you've been getting more hits?
Starting a New Business - Congratulations on the first step of deciding to create your own business. First, you have to ascertain if you are going to be selling your products or services to people or to businesses. People purchase products and services for three basic reasons: •To satisfy basic needs •To solve problems •To make themselves feel good. You have to determine which of these three categories your product or service is the solution to. Businesses, unlike individuals, buy products and services for three reasons as well: •To increase revenues •To maintain the status quo •To decrease expenses. Knowing the reasons why people/businesses buy, you should have a picture emerging of who you think your "Target Market" (or ideal customer) is. Once you have zeroed in on your solution, you are ready to create your Marketing Strategy. If you look at any company that has grown rapidly over the past few years, (i.e. WestJet and Starbucks), it should demonstrate to you the importance of Marketing. In simple terms these companies have: •Clearly defined what makes them different; •Who their ideal customer is; •How to reach them; •Why customers should buy from them; •And most importantly why customers should come back again. It is strong Marketing Awareness that singles out the best companies. I can not stress enough how important it is to create a "living" Marketing Plan before you even start. I hope this helps a little in the creation of your plan. All the very best of luck. Remember: "A Goal without a Plan is just a Wish" Miles of Smiles, Marketing Maven
Re: Kevin's Case Study #11 - A New Forum Category? - Hi Kevin, Like GT suggested, I also think you can add Internet Marketing as a sub category in the Marketing section and also a Social marketing as subcategory. Online marketing/internet marketing/online promotion are the same, and it will be best to use the common term - Internet marketing. I can't think about someone to moderate a Social Marketing category. We all use it, we all know how to make it work and we all have our own different experience with it.
Internet Marketing Conference on SLife - I've been trying to log in but it keeps crashing.. anyways.. a friend of mine in BC plans on holding Internet Marketing Conferences on SecondLife and have the same top internet marketers that would normally be in Live Internet Marketing conference speak. Income will be generated from admission charges, product sales during breaks, sponsor tables, etc etc.. Just to get the ideas flowing in your head that anything you can do in the real world can be replicated in SL. There is no planned date as of yet for this conference.


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