🗣️ Transcript
Welcome back! Previously we got into the psychology of why people buy courses. Now we’re going to use those same ideas to learn how to Fill the Blanks to Nail Your Market.
Here’s what you’ll learn:
- Why you need a crystal clear description of your market
- The three-part template you can use
- Why it’s usually best to narrow your focus
Just remember, you’re not building your course and then trying to figure out the market. You’re deciding on a market upfront, then creating a course for people like that.
Because, when you’re ready, you’ll need to find enough of those people to tell them about your course. And it’s easier to find something when you know what you’re looking for.
In fact, with a clear enough description of your market, you could even get someone else to find them for you.
To bring this to life I want you to imagine that we’re in a room together and I tell you that in the very next room, hidden from sight, are a hundred people.
And among those 100 people are five who are a perfect fit for your future course. Just ideal students.
Your job is to identify the right five people. But here’s the twist. You can’t go in the room.
All you can do is give me a one-sentence description of the type of people you’re looking for. Then I’ll open the door, read out your description, and invite anyone who thinks they match that description to come meet you and hear about your course.
Now, you’ve only got one shot at this. Your description will need to be so clear and precise that the right five people will immediately think “Yes – that’s me!”, and the remaining 95 will think “Nope – not me.”
Because here’s the thing. Success doesn’t come from creating a course that is somewhat appealing to a wide group of people. It comes from creating a course that’s strongly appealing to a much narrower group.
Okay, drumroll please, because I’m about to show you the template…
[Group] who want [Goal] but [Obstacle]
So let’s break that down, one piece at a time:
“Group” is a simple description like: stressed parents, middle-aged women, freelance web designers, etc.
It’s mostly demographic information, but sometimes there’s information about beliefs or emotional state.
It’s part of the template because it usually helps to focus on a specific group of people.
But if that doesn’t apply to you, “people” is a good general placeholder, i.e., “People who want…”
“Goal” is what those people want and it can be fairly broad, like “more productivity” or “a new career”; it can also be something they want less of like “fewer family arguments” or “less stress”, i.e., more problem-oriented.
“Obstacle” is the thing they perceive as standing between them and getting what they want. (Without the obstacle they’d just be able to get what they want, easy peasy, with no extra help.)
So here are some quick examples of the template in use:
- Remote workers who want to improve their productivity but can’t find a method that works consistently for them
- Frustrated dog owners who want a better-behaved pet but don’t know how to fix bad habits built up over several years
- Divorced parents who want a better relationship with their ex and kids but keep getting sucked back into old battles
Hearing those, do you think any of the 100 people in that room would struggle to decide if they fit the bill? I doubt it. You’re either that type of person or you’re not.
Now you might be wondering, should you always try to target a certain group? What about targeting anyone with a certain goal and obstacle?
Well, it depends. Sometimes the goal and obstacle are so specific that you can treat anyone who fits them as a single group.
For instance, with the juggling example from the last lesson, we probably don’t care about the wannabe juggler’s age, profession, gender, etc. (Although a juggling course for kids would probably be different to one for adults.)
We could just target: “People who want to learn to juggle but can’t seem to master the basics.”
Usually though it’s better to target a specific group. Here’s why:
- Guiding one group to their goal may be different to another. (Helping women in their 20s who are struggling to get pregnant is different to helping women in their 40s.)
- Picking a group makes it easier to find customers and speak their language. (Middle-aged men who want to lose weight will hang out in different places online and talk about weight loss differently than middle-aged women.)
- Having a narrower focus for your course makes it more distinctive and memorable. (Helping personal trainers master social media is better than just helping “people” master social media.)
Most useful group descriptions can be boiled down to a simple adjective + noun combination, such as:
- middle-aged women
- inexperienced managers
- newly qualified coaches
And if you want to target more than one type of person with the noun part that’s usually fine. Like coaches and consultants. Or team leaders and managers. Just so long as they’re closely related and their goal is the same.
I have a resource I call the People Finder you can use for ideas. But usually, the group you should focus on for your course will be fairly obvious to you.
Quick side note: just because we’re going to focus on a narrow market, that doesn’t mean you’ll turn people away who don’t perfectly fit that description. They’re just not your main focus.
So try not to worry that a narrow definition will limit your course’s potential. Usually the opposite is true.
So, you now have a template you can use to define your target market with laser precision.
Of course, precise and viable are two separate things. Which is why the next lesson looks at what makes a viable market for you and your course. See you there!