Marketing in Motion:

How to See Your Target Market Everywhere You Go

Learning about your target market is an evolutionary process of doing, noticing, and refining, then doing again.  But you can speed up the evolution of your business by taking some time to play a game.

Spot Your Target Market

We have each experienced this phenomenon:  we are out shopping for a new car and believe we’ve found something we love, and something unique.  But on the drive home it suddenly appears as if every other car on the road is some version of what we just bought.  Where were all those cars before?  On the road.  We just weren’t paying attention to them.

It’s how the brain works:  the ‘law’ of attention.  What we look for, we experience more of.  So let’s use this ‘law’ to begin to see our target market.

How to Target Your Target Market

It’s very simple.  You don’t have to change anything you’re already doing nor take any extra time to do it.  All you do is begin to take notice of the things you like about the people and interactions around you during the day. 

1. Notice something you like about the person walking down the street towards you or standing in line in front you.  Is it their hair?  Is it their smile?  Is it their voice?
2. Try to notice what quality it’s reflecting that you like about that person.  For example, if they have a nice smile is it because it reflects a positive attitude or friendliness?  It doesn’t matter if you know whether or not it’s really true about that person, what you’re looking for is what your impression is.
3. Write down at least 3 to 5 observations you’ve made each day.  More if you want to.
4. At least once a week, look through the observations you’ve made.  Look for themes in the qualities you’ve seen reflected, such as ‘a positive attitude.’
5. For each theme you’ve identified, notice all the various ways that it can be seen.  For example you might have seen ‘a positive attitude’ in one person’s smile, in the way another person said ‘hello’ to you, and in the way a third person found a solution in a challenging situation.
6. Now use these themes and qualities to build a profile of your ideal client.  You’ll already have a set of examples for each theme so that you know what to watch for the next time you’re interviewing a potential client.

Never be afraid to narrow your target market down to the most ‘fun’ clients you have.  The more narrow your focus, the easier it becomes to relay your message and the easier it becomes for your potential clients to ‘see themselves’ in every piece of marketing you create.  The end result is not only more clients, but the kinds of clients who make your business worth getting out of bed for.