The BRAND BUILDING WORKSHOP

Transcription

1 The BRAND BUILDING WORKSHOP Written by Thad Cox

2 BRAND BUILDING WORKSHOP Choosing your Target Market WHO IS YOUR IDEAL TARGET MARKET? It is crucial to know exactly you are aiming your services at. The more specific, the better as you can be very precise in your message. By concentrating on one group you can begin to learn what they need in the short term, their longer term goals. You can find out what they are struggling with, what their pain points are and start offering solutions to help solve them. You will begin to learn where they hang out, how to reach them through targeted marketing and start to use your services to help them overcome their problems and achieve their goals. SHOUT ABOVE THE NOISE By not being specific enough in your messaging, it s hard to get people s attention. When we here adverts or see links to articles that don t seem that relevant to us, we switch off. We have all become very adept at tuning out the relentless spam and rubbish that bombards us every day. Unless you can cut through the noise, you ll never get noticed and not only this, but you will be competing alongside hundreds, maybe even thousands of other businesses. You ll end up spreading yourself too thin to make an impact and will eventually run out of resources. It s much easier to concentrate on winning the attention of one group, than it is trying to appeal to anyone who works within that industry. They all have very specific needs, wants and desires, and so it s impossible to craft a compelling message that successfully addresses all of these in a way that positions you are their first choice. Thad Cox 2016

3 BRAND BUILDING WORKSHOP The strategy behind it. YOUR CONNECTION DEEPENS WITH EACH JOB Another advantage to staying more concentrated and choosing to work with a specific group is that you learn more and more about them with each job that passes. Simply by spending time together working through their issues, you will learn what they are struggling with, what their dreams are why they picked you. This insight is gold as you can use it to double down on what go their attention and why they chose you. For example, by knowing how they found you will help you know where you need to concentrate your marketing and self promotion. BUILD UP, THEN OUT. By initially concentrating on winning over that one group, it s easier to build your reputation. Once you have built your reputation, you can then look to expand into other areas. This could be by offering services that compliment what you are doing to the same audience For example: You could start out by offering branding for pizza restaurants, but then you could also offer to design websites for pizza restaurants. After that you can expand into content marketing and social media management for pizza restaurants. Alternatively you could go from offering branding for pizza restaurants, to also offering branding for burger restaurants and then branding for coffee shops. You build on your success and use those transferable skills to help others in a similar market. However it s crucial to remember that people will only be prepared to take you up on these additional services if you have already established your reputation as being trustworthy and competent at what you do. Thad Cox 2016

4 BRAND BUILDING WORKSHOP Which group do you want to work with? It doesn t always have to be a group you ve never worked with. Sometimes it s easier to start with a target market with who you have had some previous experience of working with. Maybe it s an industry you ve grown up in or always been fascinated by? Any knowledge you can bring will give you an advantage, but this shouldn t be the reason you choose them as if your heart isn t in it, you ll lose interest further down the line. Alternatively, it could be a group you want to learn more about? It doesn t matter which one, but the key is to pick one and dive right in. WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THEM? You need to know as much as possible about this group, so do plenty of research. Try to find out what their pain points are, what are their more urgent short term needs and what do they dream of achieving with their life and business long term. This knowledge builds trust. They will feel you understand them and can relate to them as you are learning about issues that go far deeper than superficial surface level problems. They will also appreciate your knowledge of their industry and your track record of achieving success for your clients. Thad Cox 2016

5 BRAND BUILDING WORKSHOP Getting their attention FIND OUT WHERE DO THEY HANG OUT One of the other advantages of speaking to a specific group is that you can find out where their attention is and get your services in front of them. This could be through collaboration with respected influencers, writing articles for blogs they read, targeted Facebook advertising, going to conferences and networking events. CREATE SPECIFIC MARKETING JUST FOR THEM Knowing about your target in depth means that you can connect with them on a deeper level by using the language they understand and can relate to. This authenticity and dedication to their specific industry will make you stand out from the competition. In-jokes, cult heroes and niche phrases will all communicate that you understand exactly who they are, where they are coming from and what they need to achieve their goals both short and long term. Its not forever Most people are reluctant to concentrate on one target market as they worry that they will be stuck working with that target market for years. This doesn t have to be the case as you can try out working a specific target market for just 6 months. If you don t find it rewarding or discover something you don t like, then just change to another target market. Eventually it will click and things will really take off and even if this does take a while, it will generate better results in the long term that doing what most people do at the moment and try and sell their services to everyone at once. Thad Cox 2016

6 Choosing your Target Market WHO DO YOU WANT TO WORK WITH? List groups you have had experience working with before that you would want to work with again: IS THERE AN AUDIENCE YOU ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT WORKING WITH? Write down possible target markets you feel passionate about and would want to with: WHICH INDUSTRIES DO YOU KNOW ABOUT? List a target market or industry you are knowledgeable about or would want to learn more about: WHAT TARGET MARKET DO YOU ADMIRE OR HAVE MUTUAL INTERESTS? Write down possible groups that share similar interests or you look up to: YOUR FINAL SELECTION. Can you see any theme or repetition in the answers listed above? If not, having considered your responses, please write down 3 potential target markets you would be happy to work with, in order of preference

7 Choosing your Target Market - Their Interests WHO DO THEY FOLLOW? Do some research into who they follow on Social Media and watch channels they are subscribed to on YouTube: WHAT DO THEY READ? Write down any magazines, blogs and websites they visit regularly: WHAT DO THEY LISTEN TO? This is focussed more on podcasts, radio shows and musicians. WHAT DO THEY WATCH? YouTube, TV On-Demand and Movies. WHAT EVENTS DO THEY ATTEND? Are there any conferences, meet ups or networking events they regularly go to?

8 Choosing your Target Market - Their Needs & Desires WHAT ARE THEIR MORE URGENT SHORT TERM NEEDS? Do some research into who they follow on Social Media and watch channels they are subscribed to on YouTube: WHAT ARE THEIR BIGGER, LONGER TERM GOALS? Write down any magazines, blogs and websites they visit regularly: WHAT ARE THEIR SPECIFIC PAIN POINTS? This is focussed more on podcasts, radio shows and musicians. WHY ARE THEY PASSIONATE ABOUT WHAT THEY DO? YouTube, TV On-Demand and Movies. ANY OTHER OBSERVATIONS? Did anything continually come up in conversation that should be taken into consideration?