Identify Your Target Marketusing social media

Aaron Eden @aaronedenhttp://about.me/aaroneden

Agenda

• What is a target market?• Why is it important?• Market segments• Good & Bad Samples• Interviewing• Reviewing

What is a target market?

A target market is a group of customers that the business has decided to aim its marketing efforts and ultimately its merchandise. A well-defined target market is the first element to a marketing strategy.

-- Wikipedia

Samples

Good Targets

“Women getting married that want a diamond tiara and live in Tucson, AZ”

“Homeowners between the ages of 35-65 with incomes of $150,000+ in the Baton Rouge, Louisiana market”

Bad Targets

“Small business owners in Tucson, AZ”

“Anyone interested in my services”

Why is it important?

Can’t market to people you don’t understand

Lower costs

Compete more effectively

Faster / simpler sales

What are the 3 problems you are trying to solve for your customers?

Scheduling social media posts is time consuming.

Sending social media posts to multiple networks is time consuming.

Sending social media posts to multiple time zones is difficult and time consuming.

Market segmentsDemographic Segment

Measurable statistics such as age, income, occupation, etc.

Psychographic Segment

Lifestyle preferences such as music lovers, city or urban dwellers, etc.

Use-based Segment

Frequency of usage such as recreational drinking, traveling, etc.

Benefit SegmentDesire to obtain the same product benefits such as luxury, thriftiness, comfort from food, etc.

Geographic Segment

Location such as home address, business address, etc.

Who are your customers?

• Worldwide Solo-preneur social media marketers that speak English and have 3+ clients.

Interview questions

Setup context

Rank the problems (must have, nice to have, don’t care)

Prove / disprove market segment

Which marketing channels are most likely to reach them?

Do they make the buying decisions in their company?

What alternatives are they using today?

Ask for introductions

Finding interviewees

Existing customers

First degree contacts

Facebook

B2C

First degree contacts

FB Questions

Twitter

B2C

B2B

Much noisier

Wider reach

LinkedIn Answers

B2B

Yahoo Answers

B2C

Slightly noisy

Quora

B2B

Build up network first

Reviewing

After each interview

After 10 interviews

Tweak until you find problem / market fit

When your problem isn't big enough

• Is there another related, larger problem for your target market?

• Are any of these problems affecting a different market?• Is there are a similar problem but for a smaller market?• Is there a piece of your solution that might be a product on

it's own?

Pick another target or discover new problems