What if, instead of thinking of jargon like target audience, you think of the word community? Instead of “targeting” potential customers, you are building a community of people who connect with your business. You guessed it—this week I want to talk about something that is very important to me, which is community building. There’s a reason “create your community” is part of my slogan, and it’s because community-building is something that truly lights me up.

If you are a small business owner then you probably are creating something important and meaningful to others. It’s no easy task to start and grow a business. It requires passion, patience, planning and plenty of resilience. There is a lot more than financial gain to be had by successful business owners. And those of us who choose business ownership as a career are usually in it for more than just the money. So why not think about building your business as if you were building a community.

Community creates connection. It provides a space to build and cultivate relationships. It allows for continued opportunities to build trust and loyalty in others. These are all things I think business owners should strive to achieve for themselves. And there is tremendous opportunity if you consider your business to be a place for building community.

So if creating that long list of traits and interests of your target audience and then developing a marketing plan to get in front of that ideal customer, feels overwhelming and daunting to you, try this approach. Consider answering these questions instead. Inspiration may strike and the foundation of a plan might be formed… give it a try.

1. Who do you want in your community? Is this an inclusive or exclusive community? What would you do differently if it was one way vs. the other?
2. What does someone need to do to be a part of your community? How could you make someone feel like they are part of a community? What do you need to feel like you’re part of a community?
3. What does it feel like when you feel emotionally connected to something? Do you feel more fulfilled? Is there a way to encourage customers and clients to feel this way when they work with you?
4. Are there other people or businesses in your community who might be willing to help you grow your community for your business?

When you’re thinking about marketing, consider envisioning the kind of community you want to create for yourself and for your business.

Why does this matter? Taking the first step in creating a vision for the community you would love to build around your business is a way to inspire action in your marketing. Suddenly you’ll have ideas about who might be a good person to share business ideas with, or content that you’ll want to create on social media or what information you want to share on your website. If this resonates with you, go even further with it. Create a to do list and plop some of these inspired action steps in your calendar. See what happens when you start from a place of hope, inspiration and positivity.

Hope this helps get you on your way to creating that community you’d love to be a part of! If you have any questions about marketing, reach out to us here at Fesyk Marketing to get more advice on how to build your brand and create your community.

Need a little more help with your marketing planning? We’ve got more on target audiences here:

• Have Fun Identifying Your Target Audience
• Understand Your Target Audience to Give Better Customer Service

Or check out our previous blogs on goal-setting:

• Discovering Your Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal
• Why Does Your Business Need a BHAG?
• Why is Goal Setting So Hard?
• Why OKRs Are a Great Tool for Setting Goals

The post What Kind of Community Do You Want to Create? appeared first on Fesyk Marketing.

Why is that? Well, maybe it feels kind of fluffy to devote time to creating this idea of who would buy your product. Or maybe it just feels like work—lots of work when you have a thousand other things to do. You might wonder if it actually results in increased sales.

Let me tell you that a laser focus on marketing to your ideal customer will benefit your business. Take Lululemon for example. When the company began, they had a clear vision of who they were selling to: “a 32-year-old professional single woman named Ocean who makes $100,000 a year.” This clear focus helped propel the company to the big business it is today.

So how do you make this easier on yourself? How do you focus on defining who your ideal customer is when you have so much to do?

Here are a few ideas. First, lean into it and make it fun. Use the internet to find pictures of what they might look like. Let your imagination run wild dreaming up their typical day, and what they wish their typical day looked like. This is one area you can really let your creative side shine as your flesh out who your ideal customer is.

Second, your target customer doesn’t have to be you, or someone like you. Your goal is to identify the type you love to work with. There are no rules. Let yourself picture exactly who you’d love to spend time doing business with.

Lastly, you may be wondering what kind of questions to ask to define your ideal customer, and where to start. Fortunately, there are a million resources out there already! Rather than reinventing the wheel, I’m going to share one great resource that really helped me. This is a great ten-minute podcast from Kaitlyn Ryan at Marketing Not Magic which has all kinds of questions beyond the usual age/gender/income questions.

Here are a few sample questions to give you a taste:

• What does your prospect’s typical morning look like?
• Work from home? Do they drive? Do they take an Uber?
• What are they listening to?
• What are they drinking/eating?
• What apps are they checking?
• Who, if anything are they caring for?
• What’re they wishing they could make time for?

You can find the podcast here!

In summary, my advice is—have fun with your target audience and get creative imagining them! And if you want to talk about your audience and bounce ideas off someone else, get in touch. I love working through the brainstorming process with clients.

The post Have Fun Identifying Your Target Audience! appeared first on Fesyk Marketing.