June 17 2010
[LBCC] Step #2 – Don’t Just Choose…But Know Your Market
Tagged Under : List Building, market, research
So now that we know that we have to get in the right mindset, that we need to focus on building a business slowly, not just trying to make money online. It's time to dig in and get started with our marketing plan. If you missed step #1, read about the internet marketing mindset here.
And like I said I'll be tagging everything with [LBCC] since it's the List Building Crash Course…so it's easy to find. =)
Choosing Your Market
It's really important that you do this step and put a lot of thought into it. If you just go with the first thing that sounds good, it will be really hard to build a sustainable business, especially if it's not something that you enjoy. That said, think about what you like to do and how you could sell information to people who like the same things.
There are a ton of markets out there so it's not necessary to go into one or the other just because "it seems like there's money in it." If you're passionate about something, you'll find the money in your market. If you go into a market that seems like there's money in, but you have no passion or drive to continue, you'll never succeed with your business because it will just be too hard to keep going.
Getting To Know Your Market
Choosing the market you're going to dive into is not quite enough. If you want to be effective in your niche you need to have intimate knowledge about the people you will be marketing to. Remember, in order to build a business in your market, you must provide value. In order to provide value, you must know what your market deems as valuable (seems simple right?)
Truthfully this can be one of the harder things to figure out, at least it was (and is) for me. I tend to focus too much on myself and how I see things in my market, instead of focusing entirely on what OTHER people think/feel/need. To figure out what your market needs you must become one of them. Start frequenting the forums, start conversations with people and learn what kind of questions they have. Once you figure out what they are looking for, then you can give them what they need.
ACTION STEPS:
I decided that I need to include action steps on each one of these posts. After all, theory is good but what do you do with it?
#1: Brainstorm some ideas about some markets that you would LIKE to get into. Not that you think would be good money makers. What do you want to do? What areas would you like to become an expert in? You don't have to be an expert in your desired field yet, but you should want to become one. Reaching expert status will help you make more sales and build a bigger audience faster.
#2: Once you have your business ideas, you better see if there is money in it. I know I said that you'll find the money, which is true to a point. But if it's something obscure then you may have trouble finding the people in your market. To do this, visit some sites like Clickbank.com and Amazon.com and do some keyword searches for your niche. See if there are products already being sold to those people. If so, then you've got a green light to go forward.
#3: Now that you know what market you'll be diving into, start getting to know those people. Visit forums and Yahoo answers and do Google searches to figure out what kinds of questions they have. Where do they need help and what goals do they have? Once you know who your prospects are, what they need, and what goals they are trying to achieve, then you'll be set to give them exactly what they want.
Write all this stuff down! It's very important to keep a log of what you're doing. That way in the future if you start to lose focus you can 'reset' and see what your business plan was in the beginning.
As always if you have any questions or comments please leave them below, I'd be happy to help in anyway I can!
