I Hear, Yet Say Not Much, Hear the More
William Shakespeare
Much Ado About Nothing (III, 2)
Listening says to people that you think they are smart and worth listening to. It says that you care about their concerns, that you feel something for them. Listening also says that you are the type of person who wants to learn and improve.
It’s so simple and so powerful. By simply listening, you can often engage your target markets more profoundly than by saying something profound.
No. 5 Target Market Rule of Thumb
Don’t think of what you want to tell your target market,
Think of what the market wants to hear and talk about.
But there is one simple thing you can keep in mind that will go a long way in building a strong bond with your target markets: listen more and talk at them less.
Listening seems so simple, yet few have mastered the art of listening. Listening goes a long way in building strong relationships and engaging your target audience. When you listen rather than talk, you flatter your audience. You’ll create a great impression (and learn a lot to boot).
No. 4. Target Market Rule of Thumb
Build an emotional bond,
Not just a rational bond.
Between a brand and its audience, a relationship needs to be built.
Today, brand managers put such a strong emphasis on emotional branding because we form the strongest relationships with brands we like and care about.
It’s often the emotional ties that bind. Rationally, we can often make a case why the capabilities of one company is better than other, or the experience of one person is superior. Yet, our gut tells us differently. We choose the one that we feel more comfortable with emotionally.
Your goal as a self brand is to build satisfied and loyal “customers,” people who have good things to say about you because they have strong feelings about you, too.
No. 3 Target Market Rule of Thumb
Have a clear and relevant value proposition for the target market.
In attacking a narrow target market, you need to make sure the segment has enough size and growth potential. You want to own a valuable target market niche.
Say you are a financial consultant targeting women. Which women are your best prospects? Women differ in age, income, education, lifestyle, marital status, geographic origin, psychology and other ways.
Even high net worth women may be too broad a target market. Maybe it’s high net worth female executives and entrepreneurs. Or it could be women who are divorced (or planning to divorce). Or maybe it’s widows. Or it could be women who have inherited money.
Each of these target markets has very distinct needs and interests that would not be satisfied with an approach targeting the broader women’s market.
In analyzing market segments, you’re looking for an opportunity. Which group would you be most successful with? What is the right self brand strategy for this target market? What is your value proposition – what you have to offer them that other competitors don’t?
If the target market is defined too broadly, your value proposition won’t resonate with anyone since it will be too broad and vague. It will be impossible to build a strong brand identity, too. Your image will be too general to attract interest and loyalty.
No. 2 Target Market Rule of Thumb
Think of what the reaction you want from the market,
and what you need to say and do to get that reaction.
If you were a competitor, how could you top the way you are performing with your primary target market? What would your clients love you to do that you are not doing now? Start doing it.
What are the sore spots? What are you doing that they don’t like? Stop doing it.
What changes can you make to satisfy your target market better?
There are four types of people:
prospects, customers, loyal customers,
and former customers.
Seth Godin
The more precisely you can define the target market and what their needs and desires are, the easier it is to “package” yourself and develop the best solutions, messages and approach to satisfy those needs.
As a self brand, you want to do a terrific job with your target markets.
You want to turn them into loyal customers or even brand apostles for your brand.
To do that, you must understand what makes them tick. Start by defining and “painting a picture” of your target market like branding and advertising people do. Start by listening and looking. Pay particular attention to the “softer” stuff. How do they think? What makes them tick? What are they looking for? What values are important to them?
No 1 Target Market Rule of Thumb
Prioritize the market into Primary and Secondary Target Markets.
• Primary Target Market. These are the key people to focus on since they are the most important to your self brand and where you will get the best results for your brand. It could be your core group of clients and prospects. If you work in a corporation and don’t have external clients, your boss and key senior executives may be your primary target market.
• Secondary Target Market. These are people that also have an impact on your brand that you see potential for in the future.
Think in terms of target markets about all the people important to your brand – your boss, your clients and your colleagues – and follow these five rules of thumb.
Most people make the mistake of defining the market too broadly. So they don’t own anything that they are known for. And they don’t give the most important “consumers” of their self brand any more attention and “service” than they give less important consumers.
Sell when you can.
You are not for all markets.
William Shakespeare
As You Like It (III, 5)
In branding, markets are defined and prioritized. No one has the resources or time to go after everyone. No brand can appeal to everybody. Neither can you.
It’s smart to pay more attention to the people who have the most impact on your brand’s success. You want to create “loyal” customers after all by making sure that your most important customers are your focus.
Look fresh and merrily.
William Shakespeare
Julius Caesar (II,1)
Today brand managers put a lot of emphasis on emotional branding, brand personality, market segments and total brand experience.
Why?
Because we form the strongest bonds with brands we like, identify with and feel emotionally connected with in our lives.
Ad agencies even write up descriptive brand briefs that bring the brand to life as if the brand were “real” to help the creative people develop the advertising.
The brand brief also defines and describes the target market for the brand. The target market is described not only in demographic characteristics like age, income, geography but “softer” characteristics are brought to life such as lifestyle, attitudes and way of thinking. The creative people really need to get under the skin of the target market in order to develop effective advertising for the brand.
The goal is to build a strong emotional bond between the brand and the target market through all the branding activities: packaging, design, advertising, and other marketing programs.
