Targeting the right market decides whether your Restart will be successful and whether your Internet business will be profitable.
In this context, a market means a bunch of people with similar interests, in a similar situation and with similar problems.
Businesses are always most profitable when they solve people’s problems. You’ll read that term often in this post, so I want you to understand that people’s problems are your chance to break free from your job!
“Do not focus on money, instead focus on a problem that needs to be solved for the world..money will follow you as a bi-product.” - Manoj Arora
To be able to solve any kind of problem, you need to be very aware of your personal skills and interests. You need to know thyself, to become successful.
For me being successful means to run a profitable business that allows me to spend my time anyway I want.
That can only be accomplished by targeting the right market, offering the right product or service and working with the right people.
So you need to explore markets and to find the one market, that complies best with you as a person - you’ll see several benefits.
This saves you time and money and makes building your business easier.
When a market forces you to invest time and money in learning new skills, you’re most likely going to fail. Too many factors will pull you back, telling you the Restart concept and Internet business isn’t for you.
But using your existing skill set to serve a market, your business can grow right away and start on the right spot.
You can only earn money by solving people’s problems and enriching their lives.
How are you going to define those possibilities without truly understanding your market?
Make sure that you know the people in your market. Get in touch with them in any way possible, e.g. on social media or in forums.
Create a persona of your perfect customer. This means you’re defining aspects like demographics, income, relationship status, interests, fears, etc. to get clear about who you want to buy your product. Does that person exist?
You’ll experience difficult situations during your Restart and the only way to keep going is to love what you’re doing.
Use your personal interests as motivation and focus on things you truly care about. This will get you through all painful mistakes, all setbacks and will lead you to success.
Caring about your target market will also make it easier for you to find customers, to market your product or service to them and thus to earn money. Care about the value first, money will follow.
When you found a market that fits your personal interest, skill set and passion, you’ll want to validate the business opportunity.
Is there really money waiting to be made?
Competition is a good indicator for a healthy market. Do businesses (plural!) exist and are they interacting with customers? Don’t ever be the first one to enter a new market! There’s always a reason why there are no business engaging in empty markets, most often there is no money to be made.
Are products sold successfully? Do people use the products in their everyday lives? Get in touch with buyers and use product reviews to see what features or benefits are demanded by the market.
Always search for customers engaging about companies, services or products. What are they talking? Are they happy with the existing companies and offers or do they demand new players in the game?
How will you differentiate yourself from existing companies? What solutions do you provide that others don’t? Differentiation is key, so pay close attention to this point. Make it easy for people to recognize you!
Is the market safe for the future? Are products based on essential needs that don’t change over time? Or are you dependent on trends and hot topics which will be forgotten in two months? You’re in it for the long term success, so keep an eye on the future market.
What kind of people are in the market? Make sure that you’re targeting people that are able to spend money on your product or service. Align your prices (and thus the product comprehensiveness) to your potential customers.
Are people aware of the problem you are solving? It’s hard to raise awareness for problems that are not evident yet. These problems do exist, but most often people have either found ways to avoid the problem or accepted it. In both cases there’s no money to be made for you, accept your solution is so dead simple that it’s non-sense not to use it. Don’t get to confident here, but talk to people first.
Now you’ve gotten a first insight on how to explore markets to start an Internet business in. There are more facts that you might want to consider, but checking these already gives you a headstart compared to most entrepreneurs starting only with a feeling in their guts.
