There are customers out there who are just perfect for what you’re selling. These are the people you connect with.
When you write an article, record a video, sell a product, or run an affiliate promotion, you picture their faces. These are the people you’re trying to help.
If you could reach all of these people and get them to hang on your every word, you’d have a very successful business. Everything would be in sync—you understand them and care about them and they buy from you, viewing you as a top authority.
For now, that’s just a dream. Can you turn it into your reality?
I believe you absolutely can—let’s get started.
Who are Your Ideal Customers?
The first and most obvious point is—who are your ideal customers? I’ve found that many marketers actually have no idea who they are.
They have a vague idea of their audience, sure. They know that certain types of people are likely to buy a certain type of product.
But to really know your ideal audience, it has to go further than that.
What are their likes and dislikes?
What is their probable background?
What is their home life like?
What other things do they buy?
What is on the top of their mind most of the time?
What does their family look like?
Where do they work?
What is their household income?
Where do they hang out online? How about offline?
This is just the start of the questions you should already know the answer to. These are the people in your audience—your ideal audience. So, figure out who they are.
Start to hang out where these people hang out online. Figure out what makes them tick.
Visit other popular blogs, forums, and websites in your niche. Read the articles and blog posts.
Really immerse yourself in the niche. You can even use a site like Quantcast.com for information on demographics.
This should really all be done before you start creating products and even before you start promoting products as an affiliate. Why? Because you have to know enough about your niche to know what their deepest desires are and to know what they are most likely to buy.
If you truly understand your audience, you’ll know the perfect products to create and promote.
If you understand your audience, you’ll know how to market to them most effectively.
The Psychology of Your Audience
This is all part of the psychology of your audience. Again, you have to know what makes them tick.
When you’re a marketer, you have to know how humans are driven. Why are people more likely to buy from sales page A than sales page B, even if they are very similar on the surface?
A lot of this knowledge will come over time. But you should also start to think of yourself as a detective. You can uncover this information by studying your audience and immersing yourself in what they do, think, and feel online and off.
The Relationship
In addition to knowing what they think and feel, they have to feel some sort of connection with you. Yes, you’re a marketer, but I have to assume that you care deeply about the people you’re selling to. I certainly care deeply about the people I sell to.
If you want to market effectively to them, then you should have a relationship with them. You can’t be a nameless, faceless marketer with no relationship and expect to make a lot of sales.
People these days, more than ever, need to feel some sort of connection. They need to feel that you understand them and really, truly care about them.
That’s part of what makes the web so great for marketers. You can build relationships online.
You can join niche forums and communicate with people in your ideal audience. You can answer their questions, cheer them on, and more.
You can also join in on social media. This is where the people of your niche are hanging out. Pay attention to what they like and don’t like. Put that psychology detective hat on.
You can create things that help these people. You can share things that are going on in your life and show an interest in the things that are going on in their life.
Become someone who is known for always being present in the niche. You’re the first with the news and information. You’re the one who comes out with all the great, helpful products that really hit the spot and are exactly what the people of this niche needed all along.
Build Your Brand Around the People
What I’m saying throughout all of this is that it’s important to build your brand around the people.
Know what they want and deliver that.
Don’t be afraid to develop those relationships and show that you absolutely care about them.
Don’t be afraid to make money, either. You will have relationships with these people and really care about them… but part of what they want is for you to market to them and sell to them.
There has to be a balance here. You don’t want to be someone who only cares about selling but you don’t want to be someone who never tries to sell either.
People are going to buy things in your niche—they may as well buy from you, right?
Keep notes on your findings. Every day, make it your mission to build relationships and further that customer avatar you’ve created in your mind based on your findings.
Keep updated on what’s going on in your niche and with your customers. Things change quickly—what people are worried about and interested in, in your niche might change subtly or dramatically.
Sell More to Your Ideal Customers
If you really focus on your ideal customers, you’ll make more money. By the way, this means knowing who ISN’T an ideal customer as well.
Know who you’re marketing to and why. Know what makes them tick. You can become a very profitable marketer if you keep these things in mind.
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