When someone is asked ‘who is your audience?´ and they reply ‘everyone’, you know they’re in trouble. It is impossible (and undesirable) to try to turn everyone into a customer or a client. THe smaller your niche, the less you have to spend on advertising and the more personal attention you can give. This kind of myopic focus allows you to stay in touch with core customers and meet their needs. You get to know what your prospects want and expect from you, and the best way to approach them. Then you can create and sell them almost anything that interests them. The goals is to have a narrow but deep target audience, that is interested (in you), loyal (to you), and willing to pay (you) for what you do.  When you know who your target is, everything else seems to click in place. Knowing an audience means figuring out who they are, what they want and how much they are willing to spend.

Define and Refine

You don want to be running around in circles without a clue about who your target is. How to find your niche? Maybe get outside your label of ‘I am a painter’? What else do you do well? Any opportunities there? Concentrate on your strengths and market those. Customers get to know you for a specialty, and this is the age of the specialist.

Looking for Love in All the Right Places 

Aside from all this talk about a niche and a market, we want to remember these are people with emotions and desires. We also want to find ways to make you goals and the goals of those you want to reach, overlap. It is not about trying to trick people. It is about trying to help them.

•  It is lonely at the top
•  You can choose a niche, or they will choose you
• Be proactive
• Find common ground.  Can you turn your passion into a profit center. Yes, you can, Find something you are passionate about, and then use your knowledge of the people and their passion for promotional purposes.
• Work with your strengths. My strength is storytelling. What are your strengths? Do you offer something that is hard to find? One of a kind? Do you things better, faster, more creatively? Are you more experienced? More credible? Basically, what makes you great?
• Compare yourself to your competitor. What do you do different than your nearest competitors?
• Find your champion.
• Be a big fish.  Dominate a small niche and end up with fewer customers but more business.
• Be all you can be.  Any angle that gives you credibility and makes you ‘one of them’ should be explored.
• Go back to the well. Once you know your audience, you can keep creating things they will enjoy and benefit from.
• Look for unconventional markets.  Find an offf the beaten path. Find an unconventional approach and angle to reach potential clients. Find an alternative for the big companies and the standard distribution channels.
• Decide whom you don’t want to deal with.
• Stop beating your head against a wall. Find out what is selling. What exactly is the person you are promoting to looking for? What are the exact needs of the market right now?
• Turn disadvantge into advantage.
• Get creative with distribution. Find small pockets of people and be a leader in that arena.
• Focus on deep pockets. Go where the money is. I have watched so many creative people spend all their time pursuing people with little or no money to spend, and avoiding the big spender. Why is this? Fear. It is easier to go after the smaller, more accessible and less intimidating target, and maybe make a small sale of two. But isn’t it better to promote to those who have the potential to make your year with one sale?
• The grass is greener.  Go where the action is, even if it is abroad.
• Do it deeper. Focus on one target customer but offer a wide variety of goods and services.
• A final thought.  We all want to find the right clients, people who appreciate us and what we do. They are supportive and trusting, giving us the freedom to be as creative as possible. They benefit from what we do and gladly pay us well for our work. You don have to change for them. There are people out there who love the way you are. Find them.

QUICK QUIZ

1.  What makes me better? Different? Special?
2.  Who is my target audience? Are they men or women?
3.  What general age are they?
4.  Where do they live? Hang out?
5.  What turns them on? Off?
6.  What do they do in their free time?
7.  Describe their tastes?
8.  Where are they located?
9.  How often do they need what I have to offer?
10.  What is an extension of existing sales?
11.  How do they like to pay for things?
12.  My best clients are?
13.  The best way to get their attention is….?
14.  Where would they go to look for me?
15.   What other products or services would they be interested in?
16.   How are they like me?
17.   What are they passionate about?
18.   Why do they buy from me?
19.   Who cares about what I do?

ACTION TIME

How do others benefit from what you do?  What emotions are connected to what you do? How does your service rock? Give one example of where you exceed expectations. What else can you do? How are you better and different from your competitors? Why should people buy from you? Why do people buy from you or come to see you perform? What are their goals? How do you help them reach those goals? Be specific.

Who is my audience? Who will buy this and why? And for how much? You can’t say ‘everyone’ You don’t need a lot of people, you need the right people!.  Describe your core customer? What will they pay? Is it worth it?  What is the value of your customers. What do they want. What turns them on? What do they ask for the most? Do you already provide this?  Where would they most likely to see your creations? Buy it? Best time of the year to reach them? How can you create long term relationships? Repeat business?

ACTION ITEM

If you could not fail, how would you promote yourself?  Or, who has all the promotion that you want? How did they do it? Find out and make a plan based on those principles.