"Narrow
Your Focus and Broaden Your Sales"
By Dr. Michel Fortin
If your web-based business solves a specific
problem, then your chances of online success are good. This is
not a facetious statement because you'd be surprised to know how
many businesses go online with no clear objective whatsoever.
But in order to increase those chances, an immensely important
step in marketing effectively online is required -- targeting.
This is where many marketers fail, for they are trying to be "all
things to all people." Their web site may offer a product
that solves a specific problem. And unquestionably, the marketplace
-- and the potential -- on the Internet is huge. But it is also
for this very reason that general offers either get easily drowned
in this boundless electronic ocean or fail to capture the netizen's
attention due to the vagueness of the
offering's nature.
Since the marketplace is so vast, attention span so short and
competition so enormous, there is no better place for market targeting
than on the Internet. Today's rapidly changing, technology-driven
marketplace mandates a sharper marketing aim. If your business
doesn't have one, you're going to either have a really tough time
or require a huge marketing budget.
Therefore, try to discover the demographics as well as the psychographics
of your niche -- your niche being your core, largest or most profitable
market. If you don't have a narrowly defined market, then identify
it or isolate one. And once you've defined it, it will then be
easier for you to market your offer in front of an audience that
will most likely be genuinely interested in it. Otherwise, without
one you'll be merely shooting blanks.
Demographics are the basic qualities and characteristics of your
market. They include age, gender, culture, employment, industry,
income level, marital status, location and so on. For example,
does your product cater uniquely to women? Is it more appealing
to a specific industry? Does your product complement another type
of product? Is your market mostly made up of French Canadians?
In other words, who buys from you specifically?
If you were to answer that last question with "everyone,"
then you are falling in the "all things to all people"
trap mentioned earlier. Avoid it as much as you can. But if you
do cater to a diverse market, then the trick is to find out who
buys from you the most or the most often. Above all, ask yourself
this all-important question: Who is my perfect customer?
On the other hand, psychographics consist of the emotional and
behavioral qualities of your target market. They include emotions,
rationales, buying histories, psychology and thought processes
behind the decision to buy your product. For example, they include
your customers' interests, associations to which they belong,
previous purchases they've made, other similar or related products
they've consumed, activities in which they're engaged, the length
of time they remained with a particular company in the past, and
so on.
Stated differently, demographics define the qualities of those
people who may *need* your product, while psychographics are the
qualities of those who may not only need but also *want* your
product. Before you target your market, profile your customer
-- your perfect customer. You can start by conducting some marketing
research among your current client base, potential clients and
clients of other similar products or companies. But never underestimate
the gold mine that can be found in your own backyard -- your clients.
In order to illustrate the difference between demographics and
psychographics, let's look at cosmetic surgeons and particularly
hair transplant doctors. Hair restoration caters typically to
men who have experienced hair loss and are able to afford such
an operation. In other words, men and bald men specifically are
potential patients because they may need more hair.
But psychographics on the other hand go a little further. In this
example, they are comprised of men who not only need more hair
but also want more hair. This is important since not all of them
do -- it's a matter of personal priorities, just as the type of
clothing one chooses to wear. If you think about it, would you
consider all bald men as potential clients? Hopefully not.
Therefore, in order to target this specific market as precisely
as possible and thus generate higher quality leads, doctors must
take their patients' psychographic profile into account. Elements
include their lifestyle, their interests, the type of industry
in which they work (since certain industries are more image-related)
as well as their previous buying habits (such as men who have
already invested in other forms of hair replacement solutions).
Once done, they can easily find places on the web where this perfect
customer hangs out. They fish where the fish swim. For example,
there are web sites and even "vortals," which are niche-based
portals, catering to bald men seeking a hair loss solution (like
regrowth.com). There are even discussion lists and ezines whose
subscribers consist of people suffering from thinning hair. And
of course, the list goes on.
Nevertheless, keep in mind that less is more. Narrow your focus
to a specific niche and, paradoxically, you will broaden your
sales. Arm yourself with as much information as possible about
your perfect customer, and then target *that* customer more than
any other. While you can't be everything to everyone, you shouldn't
be targeting everyone for everything.
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