Tip of the Week: Who is your Target Market?

 

 

 

I am sure you have heard about your “Target Market” before  but  many business owners decide what kind of business they are going to operate, whether it be products or services, and after they have hopefully done their Market Research,  the numbers have justified their belief that their product or service is needed and will help solve their client’s problem.

But a lot of business owners actually haven’t defined who their Target Market is and sometimes that is very difficult until they determine who their ideal client is.

For instance, a real estate salesman who specializes in selling estates, wouldn’t have much difficulty determining that their ideal client is someone who has the money to buy.

I have had a business  helping seniors live independently – I’m “sort of” the extended family member who steps in to help the senior.  Originally, I was thinking of the seniors themselves – they would be my ideal client – but my “target market” was the children of seniors who didn’t live close to the senior or had a life full of home, family including children, a full time job, who already had a full plate and couldn’t always be available to their senior parents.

Once you have determined your target market, then you must decide how to market to them.  Where do they hang out?    How will you get your message to them directly?  Decide on your search terms and start looking on the internet.  This not only applys to a internet based business, but now that social media is thriving, you can search for local markets as well, such as that real estate salesman who is selling estates.

The largest and one of the most important strategies in your marketing efforts must be in defining your brand and getting your message to your target market or ideal clients.   What makes you stand out?  What is your expertise?  How do you want your clients to perceive you and the products or services that you offer?  How can you help your client solve their problem?

Your logo is a part of your brand but your message to prospective clients is much more important.

Clearly identifying your target market or ideal client along with developing a precise marketing strategy including your marketing message will, over time, bring great success to your business but it doesn’t happen overnight.

On the subject of your ideal client, would it be a Baby Boomer?  In my next blog post, I will be revealing the results of a survey that was done recently on the needs, concerns and interests of Baby Boomers.

If you are still struggling to identify your target market, seek a mentor or a business coach who will be glad to help you.

Diane L. Coville

ALTERNATIVE OFFICE ASSISTANCE

http://www.alternativeofficeassistance.com

Tip of the Week: Why does it pay to “Help a Reporter”?

      Why Does It Pay to “Help A Reporter”?

 

 

 

You know the cardinal rule about being a business owner…..promote your business whenever you can – by marketing, by word of mouth, by mentoring and sharing, by telling your family, friends and, whenever possible and where appropriate, such as connections you make through your personal life like the local stores you do business with, the doctor’s office, the dentist’s, a party you go to, a luncheon, anywhere…

As well, when you are marketing on-line, the social networks are a great place to market your business by posting articles, blogs, ebooks, newsletters, videos, etc.

Recently, a VA friend of mine, Cristina Favreau, http://www.cristinafavreau.com/ posted a comment on the network we both belong to, the Canadian Virtual Assistant Connection http://www.cvac.ca/.

She mentioned getting publicity by checking into Help a Reporter.  Reporters write newsworthy content about all manner of subjects and part of their job is to interview experts and those who have a connection to the subject matter.  Help a Reporter is run by Peter Shankman who posts dozens of opportunities for us all to offer our input to these reporters for their articles and stories.  His site is at:  http://www.helpareporter.com/.

This site is where you Register to “Be a Source” of information for Reporters and Freelance Writers.  After you have registered, you will be subscribed to his 3 daily emails – morning, afternoon and evening that lists all the opportunities that have been posted by the reporters and freelancers on almost every subject you can imagine.  It lists the subject, the writer, their contact information and what they need for their research as well as a timeline on when they need it.

I signed up some months ago.  Although I don’t check every email, I scan some through the week to see if there is anything I can contribute and quite often there is.  Just after I first registered, I found one particular article I was able to apply for.  I emailed the freelance writer with a brief description of what I could provide and she emailed me back immediately with some questions.  I emailed back my information and about a month later, I found she had quoted me in her article in a prominent magazine as well as including my Business Name and web address.  (I long since set up Google Alerts on my name and my Company Name to be emailed to me on a regular basis to monitor feedback from the net).  And up popped the link to that Article.  Note:  the reporter/freelance writer rarely notifies you of what article you are appearing in and when.

By contributing content to an enquiring reporter/freelance writer (which took a total of about 1 hour of my time), I got free publicity!  That is a win/win situation.

I would appreciate any feedback from you about how you acquired some free publicity.

 

Diane Coville

ALTERNATIVE OFFICE ASSISTANCE

www.alternativeofficeassistance.com

Tip of the Week: HOW IMPORTANT ARE ARTICLES, BLOGS AND NEWSLETTERS?

How important are Articles, Blogs and Newsletters? 

VERY IMPORTANT!

You may be wondering if you need to pursue the creation of Articles, Blogs and Newsletters.  After all, you are very busy trying to grow your business and have limited time to “create” and distribute marketing material in these formats.

Example:

One of my clients chose to pursue Social Media Marketing and “Inbound Marketing” as opposed to her “Outbound Markting” efforts in cold calls and print advertising since she was having a very low ROI (Return on Investment).

I created profiles for her on many Social Networks.  Within 1 month, a prestigious on-line magazine saw her activity on Twitter and offered her the chance to submit blogs or articles for 52 weeks to be posted on their magazine (whose readership is her “target market”).  What an opportunity!  Fifty-two weeks of free advertising to prospective clients.

Writing is not one of her strong points but she did create one Newsletter and she mentioned it was very time-consuming.  Newsletters ARE time-consuming!  Articles and Blogs are typically a little less labour intensive.  They usually contain from as little as 400 words to as much as 1000 or more.  In these documents, you are not only providing information and resources to your readers, you are also branding yourself and your business, exhibiting your expertise and communicating on a regular basis with your past, current and future clients.  Blogs and strategically posted Articles can significantly increase traffic to your website and build your professional presence all over the Internet.

Where do I begin?

Articles

Typically you could create one Article a week and post it immediately to the most popular and high traffic sites like EzineArticles and Hub Pages although there are many more out there.  Choose a subject whereby you can provide information and resources OR your views on a subject pertinent to your industry/business/service OR introduce a subject you would like to promote a discussion about.  Schedule your week to include about 1.5 hrs to create that article.  You can either create your own idea for the Article or do some research through Google Search to see what other Articles are out there.  If your strengths to do not include writing, select an Article someone else has posted and “repurpose it”.  That means, you can rewrite it in your own words and post it as your own.  You can even go so far as to include information or suggestions or solutions that address the subject matter.

Blogs

You can choose to create your own Blog.  WordPress.com or WordPress.org or Blogger are the most popular.  You can also create a Blog on your website on an individual page.  Blogs are not “becoming less popular”.   In fact, they are being recognized as a significant marketing tool, especially in the Social Media world.  A typical blog post can take as little as 1/2 hour of your time and you can choose to create 1 each week or 2 or as many as 5 on a weekly basis.  However, be consistent in setting aside the time each week to regularly create them.  OR, it may be easier for you to create two or three at a time and schedule the few minutes it takes to post them at regular intervals.  As with Articles, Blogs can be created by you or you can check out your competitors blogs through Google Search and “repurpose” them to suit your style and branding.  As well, you can enhance them when you “repurpose” them and submit them as your own.

If this appears to be too difficult or time-consuming for you, there are many excellent Virtual Assistants who can provide this service.  Depending on how much you have alloted to your marketing budget, hiring a VA can easily fit into your finances.  You might want to provide the ideas for the subject matter and let your VA research for similar Articles/Blogs or hire a VA to do ghostwriting or copywriting services for you.  And there are VA’s who are familiar with the most strategic places to promote your Articles or Blogs.  I provide all of the above to my clients as part of my Social Media Marketing services.

And don’t forget the most important components of pursuing Blogging and Articles – make sure your content is pertinent, important, genuine and rich in information for your readers.  Another important factor is the SEO (Search Engine Optimization).  Make sure your title is consistent with the content and use the most popular keywords that are content-related to help the search engines find your Articles and Blogs.  And lastly, provide the option of interaction with your readers.  Enable a “comments” box at the bottom of your Articles as well as your Blog and provide the choice to your readers of subscribing to your blogs with the RSS option.

 

Diane L. Coville

ALTERNATIVE OFFICE ASSISTANCE

http://www.alternativeofficeassistance.com