Copy Tip 3: A Viable Market
Okay, I jumped a little ahead of myself yesterday in getting to know your market.
(I can’t help myself, I’m excited about sharing these copy tips! I love this stuff!)
Before you get to know your market, you’ve got to make sure it is viable!
First of all, your job is to find a “starving crowd” — famously illustrated by the late, great Gary Halbert — if you’re missing issues of the Gary Halbert Letter, then you’re really not serious about this stuff!
He says it better than me of course, and that’s my source … so I’m sharing my source with you. Here’s what Gary Halbert said:
Think about it. When it comes to direct marketing, the most profitable habit you can cultivate is the habit of constantly being on the lookout for groups of people (markets) who have demonstrated that they are starving (or, at least hungry) for some particular product or service.
I would add this extra trait to look for and make real sure exists: do they have the capacity to buy your product or service?
If you pick a starving crowd without money to buy/invest/spend, then your chances of making profit just got splattered like an unfortunate frog crossing a busy road.
You could argue that the right message and persuasive communication can help create the capacity to buy — but still you might have a market with little money to spend.
I know a friend who once had an internet cafe serving international students and backpackers. Lots of competition, often really hard at it competing on price (there’s stacks of things I would advise, but that wasn’t my place and I sure knew less way back then than I do now). Imagine having 20 computers online som someone could come in and pay as little as 50 cents to check their emails and spend time online (this was really before the Web 2.0 stuff was around to attract much more attention and computer time!).
You open and setup the shop. Add in all the equipment. Keep in maintained. Add in utilities like electricity costs. Your online connection costs. Staff in the shop. And you’re collecting just 50 cents.
There are markets with a better capacity to buy than this!
To find your crowds, do your research. And read that Halbert article. That covers a whole heap of ways to find crowds with the right habits — who are actually doing the buying, not just saying they’ll buy.
And of course, now with all the power of online research, search engines, forums, groups, setting up tests … finding your starving crowd is a whole lot easier year by year than it was a decade ago.
Once you have your market — and you get to know them — you can get to know your objectives, create offers, find the right vehicle to reach them, evaluate what you do … and I’ll be sharing how copy is all a part of that process over the coming Copy Tips.
Comments
One Response to “Copy Tip 3: A Viable Market”
Leave a Reply
[...] [...]