Do you have a marketing/investment/analytics problem that you're looking to solve, but you don't know where to turn?
Either send me an email (click here please), or leave a comment. Describe the problem you're looking to solve. If I get a dozen or so responses, I'll post them tomorrow. Maybe we can have a discussion about the issues, huh?
Hey Kevin,
ReplyDeleteSteve here. Near a year long follower but first time commenter.
So I am in the process of creating a book to teach people how to learn Japanese symbols (familiarize, recognize, memorize & total recall)
Most language books don't focus or give much time on the alphabet. Or if they do, they try explaining by talking about it (verbally), which doesn't make sense.
The hook is I am coming from a visual angle where I believe people need to be taught visually to learn faster and quicker. I suppose an ok analogy would be something similar to one of Dan Roam's Napkin books.
So that's the backstory. The problem is marketing. I can't seem to figure out how to create a marketing message. Specifically, I am unsure who my target market is and where they are so that I can reach them. This I believe is the core root of my problem.
I can say that anyone interested in learning Japanese is my target market. But that is too broad and doesn't really help. With just that, I am nowhere near figuring out who that person is, can't break down their likes, dislikes, demographics, whether they're a Judy, Jennifer, or Jasmine type, etc.
I need have a more detail "profile" to craft a message, like say knowing 18 years girls in college in Arkansas love symbols, for example. This is a big problem I am currently tackling but need help.
Just to reiterate, how can I figure out who my target market is and where are they. I am hoping you can shed insights into this problem. Thanks in advance.
PS: This is my first book and my first stab into creating a product. So I don't have any customer data that would help.
I started my business nearly six years ago. I had nothing, no customers, no products, nothing. So when I started my blog, I allowed readers to subscribe via email. Within a few months, I had 75 or so email subscribers. I could see that half of the subscribers were from the vendor community (these folks would not be hiring me), and I could see that the other half were from companies that might hire me. Specifically, I could see that my followers were primarily in the $20,000,000 to $100,000,000 annual sales band, so I learned quickly that big companies were not going to be my target market.
ReplyDeleteWhen I started my Twitter presence, I clicked through every individual that followed me, to see what company they were from. I learned that few of these people were going to hire me, but I learned that I was attractive to a much younger audience. As a result, I changed my content, significantly, going into "teaching" mode much more than the "business development" mode I go into on my blog.
Both methods were free, and both methods allowed me to figure out my market ... I did this for nearly a year before going starting my business, so I had a qualified audience when I started, I had folks who hired me right out of the gate.
I also paid close attention to the search terms that people used to get to my site ... this told me what products I needed to create.
Thanks,
Kevin
So, what you're saying is (trying to find the bigger picture for myself)
ReplyDelete- Research your current followers.
You may not have customers when you're starting out but you may have a few fans right now that you can gain insights. The advantage of a small pool of followers is you're able to spend time looking into each one. You're bound to distinguish patterns from this audience, for which you can then turn around, create a new product, and turn them into a customer. They're holding onto your words. You already have their attention. Why not that to your advantage.
- Use online searches to help build a customer profile.
The search terms people use to get to your niche site offer potential clues on a customer problem and indirectly what he/she is like.
Actually, to be honest, I was going to dismiss your advice as not useful but letting your ideas to stew a bit, I can honestly say thank you, Kevin.
Glad I took time to just think (^_^)