Here’s the case of a virtual office assistant who recently took the plunge and claimed her unique space in the VA world.

This is how Tina M. Hilton worded it on her blog:

As of May 1,2009, Clerical Advantage will no longer be considered a ‘generalist’ virtual assistant company, but will focus on providing services to Business Creative and Legal Professionals looking to utilize online marketing methods and/or need assistance with creative pursuits such as books, classes, webinars, e-books and e-courses.

Read the entire post here.

Congratulations, Tina, on taking that scary leap… You’re an inspiration!

Anyone else up for the challenge? I guarantee it’s the best thing you could ever do to grow your virtual assistance business!

A few weeks ago my step-dad told me he wants to start a business selling log homes in Canada as an authorized dealer for a US company. The coach, entrepreneur and Devil’s Advocate in me perked up and started asking tough questions about how he plans to execute his marketing plan — is there even a marketing plan?

In no time, I brought up the target market factor because it’s an important one. My step-dad reasoned that, because the log home company doesn’t have Canadian dealers, the whole of Canada would be an open market and orders would come flooding in from all over the country.

Can you guess what he answered when I asked “Who is your target market?” You guessed it… “Everyone!” Amateurs (sorry, Kim).

I hated to burst his bubble (not really), but I had to lay it out for him. If you’re swimming in the great big ole Everyones-a-prospect Ocean, one of 3 things will happen:

1. You’ll get eaten by a bigger fish. (aka: Being acquired, outsmarted, eclipsed, or squashed by the competition.)
2. You’ll swim around aimlessly for hours, days, months hoping to find a fish — any fish — who wants what you’re offering — and frankly you’d settle for any aquatic vertebrate at this point… after all, you really need the business. (aka: spreading your time, energy, money and efforts so wide that you burn out, or give up from discouragement. “Nothing works. I’ve tried everything. What am I doing wrong?“)
3. Join a school of fish, because it’s just too hard being all alone in this great big sea. (aka:Throwing in the towel and (re)joining Corporate America, ’cause owning a business is just too hard and too much work.)

I told him it’s much better to be the big fish in a small pond, because you’ll stand out from the crowd. There are 2 main reasons for this:

1. You’ll have little to no direct competition.
2. Your target audience will see your business as more closely suited to their particular needs.

So how do you become the big fish? 2 ways:

1. Narrow down your niche and become the expert.
2. Share your expertise in any way possible.

He wasn’t entirely sold on the idea (“But I don’t want to exclude anyone.“), but I think I started getting through to him on the matter.

So, who are you swimming with?

July’s Question of the Month is all about target markets.

What’s your biggest challenge when nailing down your target market? Share your concerns with me.

Have you figured it out? What’s your secret?

Please take one minute to submit your answers here.

I’ll share the results with you at the end of July.

Don’t mistake your Ideal Client with your Target or Niche Market. They may share some similarities, but the differences are important enough to make a distinction.

Michael Port describes your ideal client in “Book Yourself Solid” this way (page 16):

Your ideal clients are a subset of the target market you choose to serve. It is just as important to identify your target market you feel passionate about as it is to identify the ideal clients you’re energized and inspired by. Remember, your ideal clients are those individuals who energize and inspire you; your target market is the demographics of the group you’re most passionate about serving.

Your ideal client is still in your target market, but now you’re making a distinction by identifying specific TYPES OF PEOPLE — personalities — that you PREFER to service. It’s those clients that you tell yourself “I can’t believe I’m getting paid to do this.“

Why does everything you’ve heard about marketing your business say you MUST choose a target market in order to be successful? It makes your job easier by knowing where to concentrate your marketing efforts!

Why take it a step further by identifying ideal clients who energize and inspire you? If your heart’s not in it, you’re not going to stick it out. You’ll get bored. As hard times come (and they WILL), you’ll be tempted to throw your hands up and say “That’s it! I’m done!” Whereas, when you serve clients who are ideal for you, your productivity will increase and so will your happiness. You’ll experience doing your very best work. And that’ll come back to you tenfold (or more!) in referrals, repeat business, glowing testimonials and more.

So think about it now: Who’s your target market? Who’s your ideal client?

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What’s the difference between a Target Market and Niche Market?

I get this question a lot. It’s a question I’ve been asked a lot lately, so I thought I’d clarify my opinion here.

A Target Market and Niche Market are the same but different in their own way. They are the same in that these terms are used to describe a group of potential clients who share common characteristics, making them extremely receptive to the customized services you offer.

The differences, however, will affect the way you communicate to these groups. I like to use the illustration of an apple tree… so, here goes…

Your entire available market, that is, all those who CAN POTENTIALLY do business with you can be compared to an apple orchard. There are a lot of trees to choose from. The point (and benefits) of choosing just one ‘tree’ is to:

• maximize your efforts
• minimize spending (money, energy, time, etc)
• make more money
• get more clients
• get more referrals
• achieve expert status in a specific field
• create a clear and compelling message that talks to this group
• and more!

After all, you’re not going to pick the few “perfect” apples in each tree from the entire orchard… Let me rephrase: You CAN pick the few “perfect” apples in each tree from the entire orchard, but that wouldn’t be efficient.

Your TARGET MARKET is that one tree that has most of what you want — the ones most LIKELY to use your services. At this point you can choose any Target Market, just for the sake of choosing one. But here are some of the criteria you should consider:

1. Are there enough people/businesses to sustain me in this target market?
2. Do I know and understand this target market on all levels?
3. Does this target group really need what I have to offer? Do I offer solutions specific to their needs, challenges, issues, problems?
4. Can they afford my fee?
5. Do I easily have access to this target?
6. Do I LIKE servicing this group?

Your NICHE MARKET can be compared to a branch on your apple tree; it’s an offshoot of your Target Market. Your Niche Market is a smaller segment of your existing Target Market. It’s more targeted, more specific, and more tightly defined than your Target Market. Your Niche can actually become your sole and unique Target, that is, you’ll choose to serve that Niche and not the entire Target.

Still with me? Did that make any sense?

While I’ve only just scratched the surface, this should be enough information for you to start narrowing down, at the very LEAST, who your Target Market is. Then you can do a little more digging on how to laser in on a niche.

To have even more fun, you can go through the process of choosing your IDEAL CLIENT!!! But I’ll save that for another post!

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Rima McDonald, of Business Resources Podcast Directory, recently interviewed me on the subject: “Getting More Clients… By Choosing Your Target Market.”

Here are the topics I covered:

• Why do I feel it’s so important to talk to small business owners about choosing a target market?
• What is the difference between a target market and a niche market?
• Why is choosing a target market so important in getting more clients?
• What are the benefits of choosing a target market?
• How do you choose a target market?

The interview will be aired next week on the BRPD network (I’ll post the link here). Being a 15-minute interview, it was impossible to cover the questions in great detail. So after the interview has been aired and you’ve had a chance to listen to it, I’d love to continue the conversation here and dig a little deeper on the subject.

For now, let me ask if you’ve clearly defined your target market? If not, what’s holding you back, what are the challenges? If you have, please share who that is and why you chose this market (or did it choose you?). What have been the benefits of choosing a target market?

I love sharing questions that come up on the various online networking groups I belong to, because I feel they reflect what’s really going on in business.

For example, last week, this question came up:

I am looking at a starting a VA business part time while maintaining my full time status at work for at least 6 months. I want to still have an income while I build my business. Any suggestions? Also, what is the first step to start a VA business after I have decided to do it?

I would have loved to share with you what other experienced members had to share… but I was the only one to reply:

I would not suggest you spend too much money on your business just yet (except for what I mention below), unless you are missing critical equipment or software.

1. The VERY first thing I suggest you do is to clearly define the services you offer. Do you have a specialty? Clearly define that part of your business. Be specific. There are a lot of VAs out there offering general admin services, so how will you set yourself apart? Don’t add services you think you’d like to learn or you THINK you can do. That will come later. If you’re in a hurry to get started, it’s not critical to have a business name yet. Just use your personal name.
2. Second is to set your fees — hourly and retainer (you may want to consider a “package fee” if your services lend themselves to such a format).
3. Third is to choose a target market that needs your services and can pay your fee.

At this point, don’t get stuck in “analysis paralysis”. There’s SO much information out there, and you can get stuck into thinking that you have to do all of those things to get going. While they’ll help (like having a website, brochures, marketing kit, press release, articles, head shots, business bank account, separate phone line, etc, etc), they are NOT critical in the start up phase.

These are just my suggestions, but here is my list of things I think anyone starting a service-based business MUST spend the few dollars on:

• If you don’t have a business name or logo yet, that’s OK. But they ARE important. Start thinking about it. Brainstorm with someone if it helps.
• Even if you don’t have the money to have a professional website created, you WILL want to spend the few dollars to register a domain name. Again, if you don’t have a company name, that’s OK; register your own name to start with. You can always purchase another domain and redirect later.
• Once that’s done, you DEFINITELY want to get business cards made — even if you don’t have a logo, business name or website yet. Have a professional-looking card designed with your name, email address (the one with your registered domain name – DON’T use a generic account as it will hurt your credibility from the start), your title, phone number and the services you offer.

Then you’ve got to get out there and market yourself. Networking is THE best strategy to get known. You are starting off right if you’ve joined VA networking groups. If you live in a town (or close to one) that has networking groups, join them if you think members are part of your target market.

You’ll want to tap into your own network you have now. Start spreading the word to your colleagues, family, friends, associates, etc… Slowly you’ll see your business taking on more shape then you can concentrate on your website, marketing material, and other, more involved marketing strategies.

While this question was specifically about starting a VA business, I believe the advice applies to most anyone starting a service-based business.

What do you think? What did I forget to add? What would you have answered? What were the steps you took? What do you wish someone told you?

During a coaching session with a realtor yesterday, she admitted to feeling overwhelmed by all the information out there and said it compounded her marketing challenge — focusing her efforts and streamlining her message. As I dug deeper, she said that she wanted to target 2 particular markets: residential sellers and investment buyers.

Now there’s nothing wrong with defining more than 1 target client — at least she knew who she most liked to work with. However, problems arise when trying to speak to all those targets in one marketing campaign. This realtor was getting ready to launch a 6-month advertising campaign, with no quantifiable goals and no clear target in mind (she was wondering how to advertise to both her targets on a 2.5″x2.5″ ad). OUCH! Imagine the waste of time and money that would have been!

So, what if, like this realtor, you just can’t decide which target client you want to concentrate on? You, really, only have 3 options:

1. Keep doing what you’re doing and hope you get clients (“After all, everyone needs my service“).
2. Decide to market actively to both groups (“After all, I don’t want to lose any business“).
3. Just choose one target market at a time and stick with it (“After all, I can’t be all things to all people“).

Now option #1 is obviously the easiest way to go. It involves little research, little effort and little to no forethought or planning. It does take more money and more energy. I’m sure you’ll agree with me when I say, this is NOT the way to go, unless you’re happy with spending lots of money, spreading yourself thin, sending an unclear message, not getting your top rates and looking unprofessional. Oh yeah, and not getting clients!

Option #2 is a better than the first, but realize that by going this route, you’ll be “splitting” yourself in 2 (or however many target markets you’ve defined). There are 2 major drawbacks to going this route: (1) You’ll spend lots of time researching each market, determining their individual needs and describing the benefits of your service and how you’ll help them overcome their unique challenges. (2) It’ll cost you more to create individual marketing materials and advertising campaigns to reach all the targets you’ve chosen.

As you’ve probably guessed, option #3 is my weapon of choice and is what I recommend to all my coaching clients, especially those who hesitate in choosing one target client or who are stuck in their marketing efforts.

If you have more than one defined target client, list them all in detail. But start by choosing 1 — the group you’re most passionate and excited about working with (whom you have access to, who need what you offer and can afford your rate) — and market to only that group. You’ll know you’re on the right track when your practice starts filling with clients, you get recognized as an expert in your field, you look forward to serving your target each day, and people ask your professional opinion or for advice. If it’s not all that, choose another target on your list and start over.

By concentrating your efforts to one specific target client, here are things you’ll notice:

• the more you’ll enjoy what you do
• the better you’ll become at identifying and answering your target’s needs
• the less time you’ll spend researching
• the more consistent, clear and concise your marketing message will become and attract your ideal client

Besides, think of how much easier it is to brand yourself and create a tag line, business cards, website, 30-second introduction, newsletter and all other marketing materials, when you are concerned with speaking to only one type of client!!

Are you like many people I speak with who think that targeting a specific client will limit their business and turn potential clients away? If you answered yes, my question to you is this: Is that such a bad thing?

You can’t be all things to all people — nor do you want to be. If you think you do, go back to the time you had the worse client ever. Your personalities clashed, he “negotiated” your rates each month, and he never gave you any referrals. You were simply “not made for each other.”

spe·cial·ize: to concentrate one’s efforts on a particular activity, product, field, or practice; to pursue a special activity, occupation, or field of study

Notice the words “concentrate” and “pursue“? That doesn’t mean you ignore everyone else and you’ll never sign anyone as a client who doesn’t fit in your cookie-cutter niche. Not at all! What it does mean is that you’ll be marketing smarter.

When writing your next newsletter article, who will you talk to? If you have the mindset that “everyone’s my client” you’ll not only not know what to write, but when you do, you’ll be too general and interest no one. If you try to speak to everyone, you’ll talk to no one.

Consider these 2 ads:

Affordable swimming lessons for the whole family

and

12-week low-impact prenatal aqua fitness for busy women

Are you attracted to the second one? I am, because I’m their target. The point is, I read the first ad and say “Neat. I’ll check it out sometime.” Whereas for the second ad I say “That’s exactly for me. I better sign up.”

While this fitness center MAY in fact offer affordable swimming lessons for the entire family, they have chosen to ‘concentrate their efforts on a particular’ client — me (and that’s what you want your audience to think about your services as well). What do you think each ad cost? Probably the same. What was the response rate for each ad? I’m sure you know the answer.

It’s true that at the beginning, choosing a target market is not easy, especially if you have lots of options. But as you get more experience and more clients, you’ll refine your message and find that you enjoy servicing one group more than another.

So you see, that’s what all the fuss is about.

Now read over your next marketing campaign and ask yourself: Who am I specifically speaking to? Who do I want to attract? What need am I addressing? How am I proving that I’m an expert in my field? If you’re not sure, ask someone who will give you honest and constructive feedback.

I’ve been reading Mark O’Neill’s article Selling Your Services on eBay: Bring Your Own Beer and wondered if this trend has really caught on in North America… If so, is it working?

So I decided to do some detective work – Cristina-style. I started searching for “coaching” on eBay. Most listings were for coaching products — ebooks, courses, DVD/CDs, books, etc… Then, I fell on someone’s listing for a free professional life coaching session; but he’s located in the UK — he didn’t count. Finally, I saw this guy’s listing and wondered how many bids he actually gets for his coaching. I went to look at his feedback to see what his most recent selling transactions were. I could only go as far back as June 24th, and found out he sells a TON of motivational CDs, but I didn’t find one single person who left feedback for a coaching session.

UPDATE
The link above probably won’t work, since the listing is expired. It was an eBay listing entitled Actual Coaching Session with David Ren Jenkins Himself by David Ren Jenkins, self-proclaimed Six Million Dollar Coach.

So I’m wondering:

• What does this do for his credibility?
• Does this guy have so much money that he can spend it on Insertion, Final Value and Buy It Now Fees (as a self-proclaimed millionaire, I guess he can)?
• If he really is “The Six Million Dollar Coach” he says he is, why does he NEED to market his services on eBay?
• Does this form of marketing actually generate business for him?

Then I searched Google for his name… Of 296 English pages, there was nothing much but eBay sites… His actual website was listed 3rd to last (which is under construction… Hello??? Why doesn’t he spend all those eBay listing dollars and use it to build a half-decent website???).

Ok, so maybe I’m being a little hard on this guy. Maybe this is all part of his branding and marketing plan… Maybe he WANTS to be branded as a successful eBay seller of his coaching products. Maybe he WANTS his name, visibility and credibility to be attached to the eBay name… Maybe his target clients ARE eBay shoppers. He probably gets coaching clients who want to hire him without going through the eBay bidding process. Maybe he’s just testing the system to see how much business eBay generates. Who am I to criticize? You’ll have to excuse my skepticism (it’s in my nature); I’m not picking on the guy… I just want to know.

After reading O’Neill’s article I thought “Cool! I should try that!” but on further investigation, I have decided not to. I think it would hurt my credibility and hamper the work I’m doing to get good search engine ratings… Maybe once I start selling my products I’ll consider it.

If eBay’s working for your service, please let me know! I’d love to hear your story!!

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