When you are starting a new business or even you have established your business and are looking for more clients, the first thing to do is identify your target market. Determine who your ideal client is. Is this client a consumer who wants to buy a product or a business owner who wants to use services? Narrowing down your target market and developing a niche is the key to the success of most businesses.
Decide and confirm what you will be selling. If you are selling products, are you going to specialize in one type of product? If you are selling services, what skills and expertise do you have? With the skills and expertise you have, what type of services can you offer that make your work enjoyable as well as these services will benefit your customers? This is the part of developing your niche reflects your experience, interests and professionalism. It is easier to sell something you are passionate about rather than selling something that you need to learn more about or you are just not enthusiastic about.
Identify the type of person you want to work with and clarify who would be your ideal client. Details about the person can include gender, age, income level, geographical location, do they work independently, are they an executive, and are they running their own business or are they working for a large company. Keep these details in mind when you attend networking events so that you will stay focused on the ideal client you are looking for. Remember, not everybody will want to buy your product or use your services.
Do market research. Once you have a confirmed who your ideal client is, put yourself in their position by understanding what products or services they need. Do as much market research as you can. Find out what your competition is and what products or services do they specialize in and promote.
Once you have researched and assessed the market and your competition, evaluate your niche to ensure it has the qualities that make it successful:
- Is it sustainable?
- Is it a product or service that customers will want to use on an on-going basis?
- How will your customers benefit from using your product or service?
- Is it unique even though there may not be the only product of service on the market?
Test your product or service. Offer product samples. Provide a trial period for the service you offer at a slightly reduced rate. As you receive feedback from your customers, keep track of their comments. This will help you determine if your product or service needs to be improved upon and developed further.
Following this process will help you have a better understanding of who will be your ideal client. This process will also help you develop strategies for marketing and promoting your product and service more successfully.