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manuj’s blog

January 3, 2022

How to Start an Online Business (Critical Questions Answered) Final Part

How to Start an Online Business (Critical Questions Answered) Final Part

Question: I do not know who my target demographic is and I do not know how to find out that precisely

Answer: Trying to sell your product to everyone is a recipe for failure. Instead, you need to find your target demographic — the specific group of people who will buy your product.

The term target demographic is quite popular in the business world. And as a business coach, when I’m on the phone with a client, I usually ask them if they know who their target demographic is.

Although it’s a very popular topic — unfortunately, it’s not as simple to figure it out. Most of the time, executives, business owners, or people looking to start their own venture don’t exactly know who they’re going to speak with.

And this is a major issue. If you don’t know who is going to buy your product or services, how are you going to get successful? Therefore, I’m presenting you with a brief answer. Here are 7 ways to precisely find out your target demographics.

1. Analyze your current customers

Looking at who already buys your product or service is one way to identify your target audience. For instance, how old are they, where do they live, what are their needs, and what are their interests? One easy way to find out this information is by engaging on social media or by distributing surveys.

2. Conduct market research

Conducting market research is like putting yourself in the shoes of your ideal customer. It shows you what they care about, but also what they think is missing in a given market. Therefore, start by examining if your products or services can fill these gaps. You can also examine your competitors to know where they are focusing and then start pushing your own unique selling proposition.

3. Create personas

Creating buyer personas can help you understand your target demographics better. A buyer persona is a fictional character created to represent a segment of your customers. It includes information about the individual’s background, demographics, behaviors, and attitudes. Build buyer personas with information like gender, age, location, occupation, and income level. Include details about how this type of customer shops for products and why they are buying from you. Refer to these personas when developing your marketing strategy.

4. Rethink your offerings

Now that you have a good idea about your customer profile, the next step is to reconsider your products or services. With your knowledge of the demographics, ask these questions: 

  • Which feature or offering might attract new leads? 
  • Which feature might make them less interested or even discouraged? 
  • Which of these should I prioritize in my marketing and paid advertising?
  • Which current customer and copywriting style could be used to represent my brand? 

This analysis will help you see the clear picture. And the changes you’ll make — will help you get new customers. 

5. Define who isn’t your target audience 

This is important because initially, you’ll see some people who are close to your demographic but they aren’t converting. Therefore, be more specific and find out whom you don’t want to sell. For example, is your demographic just men or men in their 20’s and 40’s who have high-paying jobs? This difference will help you save on marketing and your team will know exactly who to target. 

6. Revise and revisit continuously 

When you’ll start collecting more data and interact more and more with your ideal customers, you’ll become more accurate. Your understanding of your target demographics will become practical and real. Now, you should constantly optimize your strategies as you learn more. Start focusing more on your improved personas and you’ll see amazing marketing results. 

7. Use Google Analytics insights 

Google Analytics is a great way to understand the behavior of your user. Google Analytics is a powerful tool that can be used to identify and monitor your target audience. It tells you who is visiting your website and how they are interacting with it. It also shows you how people got to your website, where they landed on it, what search terms were used to find you, and much more. All this information will help you make data-driven decisions during media planning. 

Question: I Do Not Know How to Move My Business to a Scalable Online Model

Answer: There’s no denying that the Internet has changed the way we do business — especially after the pandemic. Being an entrepreneur and digital business strategist myself, I’ve been scaling online businesses from zero to one. And scaling some of the biggest names in the business world. 

This means I also know how challenging it can be. Growing your customer base, expanding your business, and crafting an online business model that works for you. Here are my top 5 pieces of advice that will help you achieve the same. 

1. Think about your growth strategy

You’ve probably heard phrases like ‘plan ahead’ or ‘create a strategy’ since you first started your business’. Because it’s vital for your business. And you may not have figured out how to scale yet – but that doesn’t mean you can’t start working on it now. As part of your overall business plan, make sure you have a strategy in place for future growth. 

You may not know exactly what’s going to happen down the road. But having goals in place is better than having no goals at all! If your goal is just to keep things going as they are, then make sure you do some research into how much funding or investment you’ll need to keep things running smoothly for 12-18 months.

2. Hire people who know their stuff 

Scaling an online business requires a lot of resourcefulness, innovation, and creativity. Therefore, it’s important to bring in the right people at the right time to jump-start your business. Stick to a hiring strategy that will help craft a solid team. A team that will help with your future envision of your company. 

A strong team will also help you focus on your core business goals. The strategy should be to onboard people who are experts in their domains and who know how to scale a business. As the team starts to understand your business goals, empower them with leadership and decision-making abilities so that they can function without the business owner. Building a second line of leaders will also mean that the company doesn’t solely rely on you. 

3. Build long-term and healthy relationships 

Building trusted relationships for your online business is an important step towards driving traffic and building credibility. Start by establishing a healthy and tactical partner ecosystem with people who are already the market players. Don’t think of it as a competition. You can reap the rewards by getting associated with a company whose customer base is similar to yours. 

You can nurture the relationship by forming mutually beneficial goals, engaging in guest blogging, co-hosting events, and so on. Also, think about ways you can reward your partners in exchange for the exposure they provide you. Always keep in mind the value of these partnerships will not only be measured by traffic and sales; it’s also measured by how much knowledge you gain from these relationships.

4. Marketing will take you to the next level 

This is where you have to be super productive and innovative as well. If you are trying to move your business to a scalable online model, you need to tell people that you exist. Create strategic marketing plans, build a loyal community, leverage social media, use paid promotions, and so on. 

Scaling an online business is all about upping your digital marketing game and spreading awareness about your product and services. Try to build a loyal community that will help you spread the word. The way you do this is by providing them with valuable content and incentives that encourage them to talk about your brand. This can be in the form of blog posts, newsletters, discounts, or free trials. 

5. Invest in technology 

As your business grows, you will need more dependence on technology. You will need technology that helps you support your growing business. Because you will eventually get overwhelmed with the data you’ve been keeping on excel sheets. And free versions of some essential tools won’t support you fully. 

Therefore, scalability becomes complex when you don’t invest in the technology. Start with a robust CRM — and also put money on automation technology. Upgrade tools like Google suite, and marketing tools which you use the most. All these tools will help you scale and make your growth-related activities smoother. 

Also read: 11 Questions Corporate Executives Need Answers for

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