Just ask Jim: How do I choose my target market?

This post I tackle a business question sent in by Laura. (Please note that I have anonymized Laura's business, e.g., "widgetizing", so you'll keep in mind that today's ideas can be used by anybody starting their own small business.)
 
Laura writes:
 
"I have a widgetizing business that I haven't quite
gotten "off the ground" due to numerous reasons...
the biggest one is finding my "target market!"
 
Every idea I've come up with has not worked out and
now I have used up my savings. If I take a part
time job, that will take away from my time to work
on my business....
 
FYI, I have done mailings to all sorts of business
that could benefit from my services.... I tried
posting on various blogs/forums and got slammed
for "advertising" (which was a real eye-opener)!
 
Funny thing is that the small number of small jobs
I have gotten have been from people seeing my
website and contacting me. I love the Internet....
 
Guess I'm looking at where I should go from here,
today?"
 
Laura--
 
First things first, I'm gonna give you the most appropriate marketing lesson you need to learn right now and keep in your mind forever. Here you are:
 

 

It if works, keep doing it. If it doesn't work, stop doing it.

So, if your website is attracting interest and getting people to call, then work on making sure your website answers the questions that people seeking widgetizers are asking. Make sure it helps them understand how you are the solution to their widgetizing needs.
 
Continue to participate in social and business networking sites by answering questions, sharing
your experience and knowledge of the widget world... and leave it to your signature file to tell people that you're a professional widgetizer.

As long as you're participating in the community, (not just submitting blatant advertising emails) most groups & sites won't have a problem.
 
If you find that certain sites/groups are pushing back even when you play by the rules, that's a good indicator that that group is probably not going to be part of your target market -- no matter how much you think they ought to be -- or that you're not sharing your experience in a way that's attractive to that group.
 
Either way, you're getting good feedback that helps you figure out your target market. In general, there are 3 simple ways to define your target market....

 

1. Trial and error. 

Take on the widgetizing projects that come to you. See which ones you enjoy doing, that bring you the most joy, that are the most profitable.  

 

2. Get specific about the type of person you enjoy working with. 

The temptation is to just keep accepting every customer who calls or comes through the door.

 Big mistake. Everyone is not your client. But until you can describe what the "perfect" client looks like, you'll keep taking on un-enjoyable and money-losing projects.

 Think of (and write down) your description of your ideal client: the type of work they do, their family life, their educational background, where they live, the types of activities they enjoy -- anything and everything you can think of (including whether they are male or female).

 Don't think about everybody who might some day be a customer of yours, think about the perfect customer and describe that person.

Soon, you'll have a little biography of the ideal client for your business. 

All that's left is to give this ideal client a name. Let's say, "Pat".

 

 3. Get specific about who you don't want to work with.

 Okay, you just created a description of your ideal client. Now I'd like you to create a description of your least ideal client.  

Do exactly what you did above, but this time think about the type of people you absolutely do not want to work with. 

(See, this is the great thing about running your own business,
you can decide who NOT to work with -- and that's a lot easier
to do if you've spent some time thinking about it early on in
your business building.)

 And, for fun, let's give this person a name. Let's say, "Voldemort".

 

 With these two things in hand, you can work on developing marketing that will get in front of, and appeal to, Pat, but which, if done right, kindly let's the Voldemorts know they should look elsewhere for widgetizing help.

 If you can't get your marketing to actually keep the Voldemorts away, you'll be able to spot them easily, since you have already created an "evil client" checklist (of sorts) when you came up with your Voldemort bio.

 Likewise, attracting the paying Pats with profitable projects becomes much easier, because you know exactly what you're looking for... which should make it easier to figure out where to find those people.

 

Now, all that said, Laura, I really believe there's one step before all of this that you need to do first, and that is to sit down, crunch some numbers, and come up with a workable plan that lets you create this business with less financial pressure.  

My experience is, the more money pressure there is at this point in your business life, the more difficult it is to make the business work at all.

 So, sit down with your finances and your original business plan rework both so that you have a specific, workable plan for how long you can continue pushing on this biz before you must change course.

 You should be able to figure out exactly what the time frame should be, what the next course will be (maybe a part-time position would be helpful?), and when to switch to it.

 Once you have that plan in place, working on the other stuff gets easier as you now have a sense of "breathing room" that will allow you do really work on the business.

 I hope that helps!