Your Ideal Market

"Unlocking success: the top 5 essential factors to consider when choosing your ideal market"

Essential One... "Market"

One of the first things you've got to do when launching your business is choose YOUR market. A "market" can be defined in many ways... but we'll keep it simple in what it means for your business...

DEFINED: A market is where people buy and sell things... or the demand for a product or service in a specific place... or among a particular group of people. A niche market is a smaller group within the GROUP, built upon outcome specifics, characteristics, and demographics...

In other words it's a sub-group where you can personalize and focus your message to break away from any mainstream competition. For example...

• Market = Weight loss
• Niche Market = Weight loss for menopausal women

Now, don't go off and choose any old market. Because if you do, you could be setting yourself up for a long up-hill battle. I mean...

Why "TRY" and sell to someone who's not interested in what you've got to offer? It's a lot easier to nudge someone who already wants what you provide. All you have to do is point the way! Here's a good way to look at it...

Who do you want to help, and how will you help them?

There are 2 things that are essential in any business... benefits for the customer, and profits for the business owner.

So, that being said...

Your aim is to help your members solve their problems, reach their goals, and enjoy their interests... while at the same time, generating revenue for your business.

The first step of making the right market selection is a BIG deal... it's KEY!

• If you choose a market where you can't bring great benefits to your audience, then sorry my friend, NO profits for you.
• If the market is to small, then sorry... money's going to be tight.
• If you choose a topic that no-one is interested in, then listen out for the crickets... 'cause no-one's in town!
• Listen... if you don't set yourself apart, your competitors are going to win the spoils.

That's why selecting the IDEAL market is so crucial, and why I suggest you focus your attention on what brings the greatest benefit to others... and watch what happens (ka-ching!)

SIDE-NOTE: It's great to help people for free... I do it all the time and gain shit loads of satisfaction from it. But the truth is... people (if they're serious), have to invest something of themselves into anything they do. Because if they don't, the "value /gains" will be diminished to zilch!

For example... think of a time you wanted to lose weight. If you were successful, did you have to throw yourself into the endeavour or was it a half-arsed attempt? The results will speak for themselves... case closed!

So, how do you choose your I.D.E.A.L market? 

They have to have these 5 characteristics...

• I nterest 
• D ilemma
• E vergreen
• A ccessible
• L ucrative

So, what are these characteristics, exactly?

Let's take a peek at each of them...

Interest

This is a two-part feature, in that you and your market must show interest in some broad topic. Specifically...

• Your interest. You need to be interested in the topic because it's something you'll be working on way into the future. If you can't be bothered now... you'll be even more apathetic a year from now (you've gotta really want to help others in the market).
• Your markets' interest. Your market needs to be actively interested in the topic. They must WANT it BIG time, so a demand for it is a necessity. 

NOTE: While it makes business sense to go where the money is... it helps if you've got some interest in the market... it makes for a more pleasurable journey.

This mutual shared passion between you and a group of consumers is the starting point of your I.D.E.A.L. market selection.

Next...

Dilemma

The next thing you'll want to decide is if your market's in a muddle of some sort (it has a problem you can solve).

And specifically, it needs to be a dilemma you can solve using multiple products. (I.E., by creating a sales funnel). In other words...

If you pick a market with only one small need that you solve with your product... you'll have a hard time creating long-term sustainable revenue for your business.

Why?

• Because it will involve you constantly bringing in new customers, which can be difficult and drain your resources.
• Because once you bring in as many customers as possible, you'll no longer be able to grow your business.

So...

Instead, pick a market with a BIG problem requiring multiple, ongoing solutions. For example...

Those who want to lose weight have a big need which requires multiple solutions. These folk may want products such as...

• Nutritional information.
• Meal Plans.
• Recipes.
• Exercise information.
• Motivational information.

Each of these topics can spawn several products, which can collectively create a large, beneficial, and profitable sales funnel.

And as a heads up...

Think of these other three categories when designing your funnel:

1. Helping others solve their problems.
2. Help others reach their goals.
3. Help others enjoy their interests.

Next...

Evergreen

The next thing you have remember is, if you market is evergreen, which means...

Did it exist five years ago? & Will it exist five years into the future?

If not, move along and find something else, because here's the thing...

Fad markets (like cabbage patch dolls, pet rocks, or Pokemon) can create lots of profits very quickly, but because of their lack of "utility" (No sustained benefit) their interest eventually goes south, withers, and dies. In other words...

It's not a good strategy for a long-term successful business.

This is why you'll want to pick an evergreen market you know will be as strong next year as it is right now. Here's a useful tool to determine if your market has staying power... Google Trends

All you've got to do is enter your keywords ("weight-loss") and check if interest is stable or growing.

TIP: If you want to cash in on a fad, do it within an evergreen market. For example... if you're selling diet guides, be sure the bulk of your products teach evergreen strategies for weight loss. So if, and when the fad sinks you only have to switch out the fad items and not change your entire line of products... or even have to switch to a different market.

Next...

Accessible

The next characteristic you'll want to look for is to  be sure your market is accessible. I mean...

• Can you teach them through traditional advertising channels at a reasonable cost?
• Does your market congregate in reachable venues?

And to find this out, all you need to do is a little market research. Ask yourself these questions (and sort the answers with research).

• Are there keywords you can use to target this market on platforms like Google AdWords?
  If so, do these keywords return tons of traffic?
• Is the market reachable on platforms like Facebook?
  Does it return plenty of traffic?
• Is the market reachable via SEO (search engine optimization)?
  (check out keyword research tools like Jaaxy or Semrush).
• Are there social media pages, social media groups, blogs, forums, and other communities thriving in the market in which you can take part / or place ads?
• Are there plenty of other marketers competing in the market? (Hint: these "competitors" may become joint venture partners in the future... helping you reach your market).

TIP: Lots of competition = healthy market

And finally...

Lucrative

What you're looking for here is whether you have an enthusiastic, profitable market. And the best way to do this is to...(wait for it), dive into some more market research.

What you want to discover, is if your market is ALREADY spending money in the niche - and what they're buying.

The best predictor of what they'll buy tomorrow is to look at what they're buying today. So here are a few steps to determine if your market is lucrative...

• Research how much the market spends on market-related items. The stats are available via a Google search when you're looking at big markets like dog-training, golf, and travel-related markets, etc.
• Check out what people are buying. Go to sites like Amazon.com, ClickBank.com, and Udemy.com. And enter keywords to see if there's any evidence your market is lucrative. look for bestsellers, which indicates where the market is driving. Also, if there are related products selling well... you know for certain it's sought after.
• Scope out the competition. Enter keywords to check out how many sites are in existence. If there are many... you know it's a healthy (lucrative) market.
• Follow the money. Check out Facebook's ads, look at the sponsored ads on Google, and search for ads on niche sites. Noticing evidence that business owners are paying for ads is a sure sign of a lucrative market.

As you complete this step, ensure you check out niche markets (smaller segments of the overall population). For example...

Weight loss is a HUGE market. But you can carve out a smaller niche. Such as women over 40, which could still be a large enough market to meet all the criteria previously mentioned.

Before we close out this section, let me give you some time-tested, battle-worn, proven markets that meet these criteria...

• Aging / Senior Interests.
• Babies and children.
• Beauty.
• Business.
• Career and jobs.
• Coaching and consulting.
• Communication.
• Computers and Tech.
• Cooking.
• Dating.
• Finance and investment.
• Health and fitness.
• Hobbies.
• Home and family.
• Investing and finance.
• Leadership.
• Mens' issues.
• Motivation.
• Parenting.
• Pets.
• Photography.
• Public speaking.
• Real estate.
• Recreation and sports.
• Relationships.
• Religion.
• Retirement.
• Sales and marketing.
• Self improvement / Help.
• Sexuality.
• Sports
• Stock Market.
• Travel and Leisure.
• Womens' issues.
• Writing.