One of the keys to not only marketing your business but defining what your business should be is defining your "target market." This term never really inspired me before, and I would often get stuck trying to define it any more specifically than "people who hate their jobs" or "people who want more happiness in their lives." Yowza, those are some vague, boring, vanilla and wildly unspecific terms, aren’t they?
But a couple of months ago I heard my mentor Suzanne Falter-Barns use the term "your people" to describe what I had known as "target market." All of a sudden, I felt like I was not only on a mission to market my business to appropriate clients, but I was on a spiritual quest as well … to find "my people" out there that most needed my help.
How do you interpret "your people" for the business you want to create or grow? Start here:
- Your people are the kind of folks you like to hang out with. They don’t have to share the same taste in music, politics or religion, but are people that stimulate and excite you and that you would search out even if they weren’t paying you.
- Your people want ALL that you bring to your business. If you are a financial planner and are also a recovering alcoholic, your people want you specifically because you share their experience first-hand and understand the fears they may have about their financial future.
- Your people SEE you. You don’t have to spend lots of effort marketing to them because they connect with you immediately and see all the value you bring to their lives. They see good things in you that perhaps you can’t even see in yourself.
- Your people are affected deeply by the work you do. This criteria itself should give you great insight into who your people are. If you work with 20 clients and 1 of them has far greater breakthroughs than the others, chances are s/he is one of your people.
- Your people inspire you to want to do, learn and create more. Serving them is such a rush and a privilege that you want to be the very best you can be just to keep working with them.
Who are your people?
Thanks, Pam, for outlining what ‘My People’ is so clearly. I wonder if Suzanne got the term from the wonderful financial abundance and clarity author, Chellie Campbell?
She talks a lot about Dolphins, Sharks and Tuna. Dolphins are “my people”, those that you swim and play and collaborate with, Sharks are the people that EAT YOU up, energy vampires and “not my people”, and Tuna are the ones that get eaten! (we’ve all known them and probably BEEN them at some point!)
Chellie just came out with a great new book: Zero to Zillionaire that I recommend to anyone interested in taking a good look at their financial situation with an eye to improve it.
thanks for your insiteful comments.
warmly,
Jessica Duquette
http://www.itsnotaboutyourstuff.com
Great post – I refer to these folks as your Ideal Target Client and woudl add one more thing – your people expect to pay a premium for your products and services once they find and connect with you.