Getting Outside Perspective on Your Target Markets

Whether we are business owners or book authors we probably think we know who our target markets are.

After all, we are the ones who have spent time writing a book or starting a business.

What if we are not seeing as clearly as an outsider – someone not invested in our book or business the way we are – can see who our target markets are?

The reason I'm writing about this now is that I saw a comment on a LinkedIn group that piqued my interest:

The author of the upcoming nonfiction book has a very interesting topic. Yet the author believes the book's main target market is college students in certain subject areas.

While I do not know all the particulars of this book project, I would be surprised if college students are actually this book's main target market.

This author mentioned that she had done a lot of research about the book's topic. Yet I wonder what research she did before deciding on the book's target market.

Now I am not saying that you have to spend a ton of money on surveys, etc. to figure out the target markets for your book or business.

I am saying that, if you only have your own viewpoint, you might want to step back and get a little perspective.

Perhaps, for example, you can ask for opinions in a LinkedIn group related to your book or business. You can start a discussion asking for target market advice. (If you do this, be sure to provide enough specifics that people can offer their opinions based on actual information.)

Or, if you are convinced you already know your main target market, find some people in that target market and ask these people whether your book or business actually appeals to them.

You might be surprised at what you learn – and you may have to revise what the target market is for your book or business.

Why is this so important to do?

You want to try to spend your time in the right places to attract your target markets.

If you are targeting college students you may want to focus on different social media activities, for example, than if you are targeting residents of a specific American city.

Very soon Yael and I will be adding two projects to our brand – projects that are not directly related to helping clients with social media marketing and WordPress websites.

For these projects – www.UnderstandFrenchLikeaNative.com and a nonfiction ebook series for teens and young adults – we will have to expand our social media activities to places that the target markets for these projects hang out online.

And, yes, as for everyone, we expect a learning curve in discovering which places are the best for connecting with our target markets. At the same time, we are excited about connecting with new people interested in subjects outside our current Miller Mosaic brand.

Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the marketing consulting company www.MillerMosaicLLC.com, which is now WBENC certified.

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Check out Phyllis' books and other projects at www.PhyllisZimblerMiller.com