LET’S GO TO MARKET!
How hard can it be, right? Taking your product or service to your target market can be trickier than it seems. What you communicate to your audience needs to be just right – you need to supply that which will address their needs – at the right time, in the right place at the right price! By Linda Botts
Here are a few points you can consider when you start putting your product/service offering together:
- For whom are we creating value? Think about a demographic. Be specific to the point where you can identify your target customer from a mile away. You need to understand what their life is about, how they function, what they eat, drink or chew on. How old are they? Man or woman? Where do they stay?
- Who are our most important customers? You can’t be everything to everybody. Out of your demographical selection, choose your most important customer. Focus all your energy on developing your market offering around servicing your most important customer.
- What value do we deliver to the customer? Now think about the value of your product or service offering. In essence, your Value Proposition. You need to define it in a way that is feasible, desirable, viable and scalable.
- Which one of our customers’ problems are we helping to solve? Define the problem-solving agents in your product or service. Sometimes this can be rather upfront but in many instances this can be something that requires a great deal of thought, i.e. an upholsterer solves the problem of refurbishing and restoring old furniture.
- What bundles of products and services are we offering to each segment? Having one product or service can be dangerous as it narrows down your target market. Whereas if you would expand your offering with just one more alternative it could potentially grow your target market double in size. Creating bundles of products or services gives your customer more value for money and creates an up-sale or cross-sale opportunity for you. It is also a great way of introducing new products or services to your customers where they would otherwise not have consider buying the new product or service.
- Which customer needs are we satisfying? There is a difference between solving a problem and satisfying a need. Think about the product/service offerings of Disneyworld. They satisfy a need for entertaining young kids. However, the problem they are solving is to assist parents with a fun way of entertaining their children.
Once you have answered these questions, you can now start putting together a communication plan that will speak directly to your defined target market, advertising that problem solver or needs satisfier that you are offering. Plan to advertise or promote your offering at the right time and place. Think about your own daily routine, where you go at what time. Find that perfect time and place and be visible with your product or service offering. The only thing left to consider is the price.
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