Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Who Are You Selling To? Must-Have Target Market Tips

By Alice Seba

If you don't know the type of customer you are selling to with your online business, the chances of success are very slim. How can you sell to someone you don't know or understand?

Here's news for you, that's going to be one difficult task until you have researched as to who exactly your target market is, and what it is they need. Okay, so what steps they take to discover the type of person who will readily buy what you have to offer? You'll have to continue reading to discover tips that will help you grow your online empire by simply getting to know your customer.

Talk to Your Current Customers

Initially, if you already have a good base of previous customers, start to investigate their personalities. Find out what it is that they desire and want. There are a few methods usually used to complete this task. Here are a few ideas:

Mail your previous clients, requesting their opinion on any previous purchases they have made from you. A second choice is to talk to any subscribers currently on your mailing list, and request their opinion as to which service you should offer more of.

Another way is to utilize your mailing list and ask them what they would like to see more of from you in an email.

You Can Still Research Even if You Don't Have Any CustomersYET.

What research process do you use, if you have never sold a product before, and you have no list to speak of? In order to discover who exactly your target clients is, jot down all of your products benefits (not features). Brainstorm a list of things that your service or product does for people. Examples of this would be "makes them more money", "gives them more spent time" etc. etc. Also focus on how your product will fix any problems your client may be facing. What is it that you can do to help your buyer, that would help their lives become easier or higher quality?

After you have discovered a few ideas, think about who these benefits would appeal to. For example, if you sold a contraption that would make a client's car go faster, the target market that you'd be aiming at would probably be car owners in their lower 20s. Discovering the many benefits your product or service has to offer will enable you to specifically target certain groups of customer who will be interested in what you have to offer. It is possible you may find that you have more than one target market. This is acceptable, and can make things more profitable -- especially with online marketing. Because of this, specific advertising and creating separate websites for each of your target markets becomes easy and did not too expensive.

Finding Out What's Already Out There

Keyword research is also a popular method for discovering your market. There are also many other ways of market research, including reading magazines related to your niche, visiting forums, discussion groups and social network websites. Find other popular websites to uncover what the hot sellers are at the current time. Visiting your competitors web page can also give you a boost of information.

No matter how you come up with your target market, remember to take the time to put yourself in your potential customer's shoes. Whether you're just starting out with a new product or are making changes to your existing service, don't be afraid to talk to people out there to find out just exactly who the target market for your online business really is.

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