When I ask business leaders, business owners, startup founders, as well as digital and social marketers who their ideal client or target market is, I often get the response similar to “anyone between the ages of 35-65 who has problem A, B or C.” What does this translate to in real business results? Nothing, nada, zip ROI.
Having a business that is focused on selling to everyone and their mother, grandmother, kids, babysitter, dog and cat is a recipe for failure.
The world is filled with generalists who can sell you whatever you want if you simply pay the $99 and you too can become rich and super duper famous. The issue is generalists have a hard time standing out from the noise as well as sustaining their business long term. It's more difficult for a business decision maker or consumer to understand how the generalist will help them versus the competitive business who knows them intimately, knows their needs and has designed a business, services or products to specifically serve them!
We all know the tricks, the lies, the spam that many marketers throw at us. The media is everywhere. Heck, as we have discussed in past blog posts and Social Zoom Factor podcasts, you and me are also the media. We can launch a blog and become the media what seems like almost overnight if we know our audience, know how to inspire and connect with them and serve them up entertainment, education and inspiration in the form of video, audio and everything in between.
We now live smack dab in the middle of the Inspiration Age where inspiring and connecting with your target audience and ideal customer in a human way is a requirement, not an option.
Tell me, how can you connect with your ideal customer at a human level if you don't know who they are? If you state your ideal customer and target market is somewhere between the age of 35 and 65 and lives in Colorado, Florida, Australia or Timbuktu, you really don't know your customer, sorry. How you market, speak to, inspire, connect with, engage and build relationships with each individual persona is going to be different. You likely are not going to sell, speak and engage the same way to a 35 year old in the north pole that you will to a 65 year old in sunny Florida, right?
This is why if you are wanting to build a successful business you need to consider narrowing your business niche. Maybe you are focusing too broad and it's time to get laser focused not only on who you are serving but also on what you have to offer them. The more you know who you are serving, the better you will organically attract your right audience. The better your ideal client will be able to understand who you are, what you do and what you can do to help them achieve their goals and objectives.
Take a listen to the 172nd episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to learn the benefits of narrowing your niche as well as 7 strategies and tips to help you build a niche strategy and plan. Be sure to subscribe to this entire brand new series, “Welcome to The Inspiration Age” on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
In this 30 minute podcast you will learn:
- Benefits of narrowing your niche
- Answer to the question of “are the riches really in the niches?”
- How to find the right fit for your niche
- Why you must be careful of being “too unique” when choosing a niche
- Importance of researching your niche, what you must know
- How to research the larger ecosystem of your target market niche
- Determining how to position yourself
- Telling your brand story so people will understand your brand promise and value proposition
- Importance of planning your go to market strategy versus “winging it”
- Determining the actions you want your audience to take to engage with you
- Why focusing on a niche strategy will help you prioritize investment, time and resources for better success
- How to embrace the inspiration age with a solid niche strategy and plan
- Importance of humanizing your brand and leveraging niche marketing to do such
Supporting Resources:
- Audience Analysis Worksheet (worksheet to help you prioritize your niche)
- Welcome to the Inspiration Age (episode 170)
- 50 Ways to Inspire Your Audience (white paper)
- Social Trust Factor: Ignite Business Results with Trust and Authority
- Brand Humanization in a Nutshell
- 20 Tips to Humanize Your Brand
- You Can't Fake Relevance
- Are You Creating, Curating, Regurgitating Content
- Social Media Audience Analysis Worksheet
- Content Calendar Template
- 4 Things You Need from Your Buyer Before You Can Sell to Them
- How to Add Call to Action Button to Facebook Business Page (blog post & video)
- You Are the Media: 10 Reasons You Need a Blog (episode 111)
- 10 Tips to Focus on Needs of Your Customer
- 8 Steps to Develop a Social Business Plan (white paper)
Free webinars: We are also launching a series of webinars and training opportunities to dig even deeper. Sign up here-> You are the Media – Building Your Media Foundation