UNDERSTANDING YOUR TARGET MARKET 
 
Now,  once  you've  figured out who your ideal target market is—either because you already know, 
it's  obvious  from  your  product,  or  maybe  you've  completed  the  PVP  index  exercise  and  you've 
done  some  surveys  and  some  research—now  we  really  want  to  build  a  very  complete picture of 
who they are.  
 
SO WE WANT TO ANSWER A FEW CRITICAL QUESTIONS: 
 
● Who are they psychographically? 
● Who are they demographically? 
● Do you know what keeps them up at night? 
● What are they afraid of?  
● What are they angry about? 
● Who are they angry at? 
● What are their top daily frustrations? 
● What industry trends are affecting their business and their lives? 
● What do they secretly desire the most? 
● Are there any built-in biases in the way they make decisions? 
 
For  example,  engineers  are  very  analytical.  They  always  want  to  know  exactly  how  it  works, 
what systems are hands-on, and things like that. 
 
Do  they  have  a  specific  jargon  they  use?  So  for example, again, engineers or doctors or lawyers, 
they've  got  specific  jargon  they  use.  What  magazines,  what  websites,  what  publications do they 
read?  What  do  they  watch?  What  industry  events  do  they  attend? What's one dominant emotion 
in their marketplace? 
 
So  I'll  give  you an example. If you're a bookstore, one dominant emotion you might have is (kind 
of)  frustration  dealing  with  Amazon,  right?  This  big,  massive  rival  that's  basically  decimated 
your  whole  industry.  So,  what's  the  one  thing  they  crave  above  all  else?  Is  it  recognition?  Is  it 
profitability? Is it standing out among their peers and competitors?  
 
I  remember  in  my  first  business,  which  was  an IT support business, I was so frustrated because 
we  were  really,  really  good  at  the  technical  things  we  did—the  IT  stuff,  the  geek  stuff—but  our 
competitors—who  were  way  inferior  to  us  technically—were  running  rings  around  us  from  a 
business  perspective  because  they  knew  business,  and  they  knew  marketing,  and  they  knew 
sales  much  better  than  we  did.  And,  in  fact,  our  competitors  would  often  hire  us  to  train  them 
on the latest technology because we were so good at it. 

The 1-Page Marketing Plan - Copyright Successwise

 
Now,  when  I  speak  to  business owners, I know viscerally the same frustration they have. Where 
they've  got  a  great  product  or  a  great  service  and  they're  just  struggling  to  get  above  their 
competitors  (who  are often inferior to them). So, because I've been a part of that target market, I 
understand it really, really well.  
 
And  I  understand  the  frustration  of  having  a  great  product  and  great  service  where  you're  not 
recognized  for  it  financially,  where  you're  struggling  financially.  I  can  really  empathize  with 
them  and  really  understand  where  they're  coming  from.  So  you can see how it's an advantage if 
you've,  at  one  time,  been  a  part  of  your  market  segment  because  that  means  you  really 
understand their psychographics. You've been in their shoes. 
 
Now,  if you've never been part of your market segment like I said in the past lesson, you're going 
to have a bit more research to do. 
 
I RECOMMEND YOU START IN THESE PLACES: 

1. LOOK FOR ANY INDUSTRY TRADE JOURNALS. 

They  can  tell  you  a  world  of  information  about  what's  going  on  in  an  industry,  what 
they're  worried  about,  and  what  some  of  the  products  other  people  are  selling  to  this 
industry  are.  The  next  thing  that  I  want  you  to  do is to start monitoring industry chatter. 
So where does industry chatter happen?  
 
Depending  on  the  industry,  it  can  be  in  a  number  of  different  sources. So it might be on 
old-school  kind  of  mailing  lists,  it  could  be  in  Facebook  groups,  it  could  be  in  Reddit 
groups,  it  could  be  in  online  forums  of  some  type  or  another,  but  I  guarantee  whatever 
industry  you're  in,  there's  a  place  where  they  congregate  online  to  chat  about  what's 
going on in the industry. 
 
So  find  out  the  places  they  hang out online, find out where the chatter is happening, and 
monitor  that  chatter  because  people  will  be  asking  questions.  They'll be asking the most 
common  questions  happening  in  the  industry.  They'll  be talking about the stuff that's on 
their mind, and this is vital intelligence.  
 
So  think  of  yourself  as  a  spy  who's  been  hired  to  infiltrate  that  industry.  Find  out  what 
their  strong  points  are,  what  their  weak  points  are,  who's  who  in  the  zoo,  and  most 
importantly,  how  you  can  add  value  to  that  industry.  Can  you  take  ideas  and  concepts 
from another industry and port them over to this one? 
 
 
 
 

The 1-Page Marketing Plan - Copyright Successwise

  
2. LOOK AT INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS. 
So  what  industry  associations  are  there?  Usually,  you  can either join them for free or for 
a  very  low  cost  and,  most  importantly,  you  can  attend  industry  events  and  trade  shows. 
These  provide  a  wealth  of  information  so  you'll  find  out  exactly  what  vendors  in  that 
industry  are  selling,  what  opportunities  exist,  and  again,  who's  who  in  the zoo and what 
everyone's doing in the industry.  
 
So  trade  shows  and  industry events can be extremely valuable. Find out who the vendors 
are  who  sell  to  this  industry​—​especially  ones  who  aren't  competitive  to  you.  Find  out 
what  they're  selling,  what their best-selling items are, who are buying the stock and what 
they see as the biggest opportunities in that industry as well. 
 
3. DON'T FORGET ABOUT BLOGS AND INDUSTRY NEWS WEBSITES. 
They'll  provide  news  and  opinions  from  people  who  are  thought  leaders  in  the  industry 
and  they’ll  give  you  a  great  starting  point  for  when  you're  thinking  about  your  own 
thought  leadership  strategy.  Because  remember,  you're  going  to  be  the  mayor  of  this 
town.  
 
You're  going  to  be  providing  a  lot  of  value  to  your  tribe,  so  you don't necessarily need to 
compete  with  other  thought  leaders,  but  you  can  have  a  new  angle and a new twist as to 
how you approach and communicate to that industry.  
 
So  with  all  that  research,  hopefully  by  now,  you've  got  a  really  good  idea  of  what's 
happening  in  their  industry,  who  the  major  players  are,  what  their  strong  points  are, 
what  their  wake  points  are,  and  now  you  can use this to really build a very, very detailed 
picture of your ideal target market.  
 
I  want  you  to  do  this  with  an  exercise  called  an  avatar.  An  avatar  is  the  marketing 
equivalent  of  method  acting.  It's  where  you  almost  become  the  target  market  you 
visualize.  I'm  not  getting  all  weird on you here, but it's really where you want to step into 
their shoes and feel what their day is like.  
 
● What's it like to be them?  
● What challenges are they having daily?  
● Who are they trying to persuade daily?  
● What are the things they ardently really desire?  
● What's the thing that's keeping them up at 3:00 AM in the morning?  
● What's their day like? What's their daily routine like?  
● What do they look like? 
 
 

The 1-Page Marketing Plan - Copyright Successwise

  
Print  a  picture  out  of  what  you  think  they  look  like  and  stick  it  up  in  your  office  when 
you're  doing  this  exercise.  Like  I  said,  this  sounds  a  little  bit  woo  woo,  a  little  bit  out 
there,  but  trust  me,  if  you  can  really  get  into  the  mind  of  your  prospect  and  articulate 
their  fears  and  frustrations  better  than  they  can  themselves,  that's  where  the  magic 
happens and your message can really make that big impact.  
 
I'll  give  you  an  example  from  my  own  business.  On  a  daily  basis,  I  get  an  email  from  readers 
who've  read  my  book.  Now,  the  email  is  almost  predictable.  Very  often  I  get  people  who  write 
in,  "Hey,  it's  like  you  read  my  mind.  It's  like  you've  been  here  in  our  business  and  overhearing 
what we're saying." And why does that happen? 
 
It happens because I know exactly what goes on in a small business. I know exactly what goes on 
in  the small business owner's mind. Why? Because I've been there. I've been in the trenches. I've 
been  that  guy  awake  at  3:00  AM  wondering  how  I'm  going  to  make  payroll,  so  I  know  exactly 
what my target market is feeling.  
 
I  know  the  challenges that they're having, I know what they're going through, and so I can speak 
to  that.  There's  nothing  more  powerful  to  a  prospect  than  when  you  speak  to  them  about  the 
very thoughts they're having on a daily basis. So that's what I want for you.  
 
I  want  you  to  really  infiltrate  that  industry  you're  going  into,  whether  you've  been  the 
prospect​—​which  makes  it  obviously  a  lot  easier​—​or  not.  ​So  if  you've  never  been  part  of  your 
target  market,  well,  you've  got  quite  a  bit of research to do and you've got quite a bit of spy work 
to do to infiltrate that industry and understand it well. 
 
Once  you've  got  this  valuable  profile  of  who  your  customer  is,  we  can  now  think  about 
messaging.  Messaging  is  an  incredibly  important  part  of  the  marketing  process.  It's  where  we 
really  get  into  the  mind  of  the  prospect,  and  it's  so  important  to  get  right,  and  that's what we're 
going to cover, in a lot of detail, in our next module. 
 

The 1-Page Marketing Plan - Copyright Successwise