Yesterday I posted a collection of articles on market research.
Then I received a follow up question about finding the target audience.
Most gurus would say, “load up your keyword research tool and see what people are searching for.”
Big mistake.
Keyword research goes a lot further down the road than that.
SurvivingMyTwenties, who asked the follow up question, gave me an example to use: women’s cosmetics. So I figured I’d do it in real time and write notes – those notes are this article. Here’s my thought process in real time as to finding where to go with the market research.
Example; Women’s Cosmetics
Start with girly-girl sites. Unless you already know a specific niche that you’re going for that isn’t the major expected target demographic, you go with the broadest search.
An example of a non-conforming niche would be goth girls – though even that’s a bit of a misnomer. (Same market, different triggers.)
But, we start with girly-girls. We want the highest form of stereotype we can. Girls who are into looking pretty are going to be typical girls, because it’s a typical girl interest. They’re also going to like baking, cute animals and unicorns. They probably want to save the planet with green energy and have a Pinterest account with shoes, landscapes and fairy grotto boards. (This is basic “pick your psychology school and use it” stuff.)
We’re not looking to win a prize for equality or challenge gender norms here, we’re finding the biggest stereotype. Later, we’ll see if it fits.
Hopefully you know some girls who fit this stereotype, and you can look over their shoulder as they aimlessly browse around looking for make-up advice, kitten pictures and baking recipes.
If you don’t know any girls, I’ll give you the rundown:
- Mumsnet (possibly depending on age and other factors.)
- YouTube (there’ll be specific people they follow. Learn those.)
- Reddit* (With a MASSIVE great asterisk next to it.)
Before we move on, let’s talk about Reddit, because it has the massive asterisk next to it.
Reddit is a great resource – probably the best resource – for finding target markets online. There’s a sub-Reddit for everything. But you have to find the right one.
Let’s take women’s cosmetics for instance. The whole of Reddit is left-leaning and there are tons of women on it. The problem is that most of the women’s issues subreddits are not only going to be unhelpful, they’ll send you down the wrong path. Political issues, social issues and all kinds of nonsense filter through everywhere and you have to avoid it like the plague.
Why? People who talk politics and “big issues” incessantly are terrible target markets and actively hate both 1. you trying to make a living and 2. People being good consumers.
Let’s delve deeper here.
Audience Profiling With Reddit: Girl Edition
If you’re selling women’s cosmetics, there’s a perfect place on Reddit to find what you’re looking for.
It’s called r/makeupaddiction and it’s perfect if you want to learn about make up. If you’re looking for other stuff, there’ll be skincare, style and other sub-forums that’ll help. Here’s the key takeaway though.
Browse reddit.com/r/makeupaddiction. What do you see?
The target market.
How do they communicate?
They literally talk about exactly what you’d expect them to talk about. They’re asking for tips, tricks and recommendations based on their looks. And not to be stereotypical, but the profile I made at the top of this article about them being girly-girls who like make up and animals?
Click through their profiles. The first five I clicked on had submissions about 1. Their looks and 2. Cute animals.
Stereotypes exist for a reason, and they’re important as a marketing tool.
I’ll talk about what to do with this important find in a moment, but let’s detour so I can explain myself on the “stereotypes” and “what do they talk about?” front.
An Example Of What NOT To Take Any Notice Of
The reason we look for a subject-specific example (in this case make up) and look for indicators that the subject is what’s actually being discussed is that there are plenty of places on Reddit, on forums, in magazines and elsewhere where the subject of discussion isn’t what you’d expect it to be.
Take Reddit’s dating sections for instance.
It doesn’t really matter if you go to /r/seduction, /r/tinder, or /r/datingadvice, you’re going to find that most of the discussion isn’t really about going on dates, building relationships or anything you’d expect.
It’s basically people bemoaning their situation, writing weird over-analyses of situations and giving hypothetical answers based on not a lot.
In short… places you want to avoid when you’re doing your research.
To go back to the make-up example… if you find a forum where someone asks, “What foundation is best for a blonde girl with brown eyes?” and the answers are “You’re beautiful just the way you are!” or “you don’t need make-up!” Then you’re in the wrong place.
Alright, So You’ve Found Your Target Market
Let’s assume you’ve got your target market. You want to research the market and see what’s happening.
We’ll also assume you have some sort of business plan. You might want to create a better product or do some content marketing by answering questions. What’s the next step?
Do You Know The Jargon?
Here’s a passage from one of the make-up addiction threads:
Let me know what you think!! I am trying to get more creative 🙂
Face: – PRIMER: Benefit Porefessional – FOUNDATION: Senegence Anti-Aging foundation in Creme Beige – CONCEALER: Tarte Shape Tape in light Sand – BRONZER: Benefit Hoola – BLUSH: Nars Douceur – HIGHLIGHT: Becca Champagne Pop Eyes: – BROWS: Anastasia Beverly Hills Dip Brow in Medium Brown & set with Clear Brow Gel – EYESHADOW: #MorpheXJaclynhill Silk Creme (transition shade), Diva (on the inner half) & Anastasia Beverly Hills Aubergine (outer half), Becca Pearl Shimmering Skin Perfector on the inner corner. – LASHES: Kiss #11 with Loreal Voluminous mascara Lips: – NYX Lingerie Lip inSatin Ribbon Nails: – Essie For The Twill Of It
Now, this is a list of products, applications and whatever. We’ve also got a glimpse into the branding of all the products because they have “cute” names.
We also have a little insight into how girls on this site talk. They use lots of J and ! and they want to know what everyone thinks! J
Until you understand the above, you don’t have the knowledge to enter the market. So that’s your first job… read until you get the gist of the market.
Key Questions
How do you know when you’ve got enough knowledge? Simple. Find a list of questions your target market has.
- Halloween Makeup Ideas?
- L’Oreal Lash Paradise – what am I missing?
- Does anyone use the nyx brow gel?
Copy/pasted the above from the same reddit site.
Can you answer those? They’re straightforward questions that are relevant to the niche… because the niche is asking them.
Now, I just picked the first three, but if you spent half an hour or so browsing through, you’d find key questions keep popping up. That’s where you can start your content marketing campaign or look to see how you’d formulate a product.
Final Thoughts
I’ve spent a lot of time on the “what to do with the information” but to go back to the first question – how do you find people?
Think of the most stereotypical person in the niche and work outwards from there. You might be wrong… for instance, you might think that fourteen year old girls are more likely to buy make-up than housewives and then it turns out you’re wrong.
Or, you might think that twenty year old guys are the biggest dating advice consumers and it turns out it is forty year old guys.
BUT you start with the biggest stereotype and find where they go. If you want to check offline, by all means do so but most people are online now and between Facebook groups, Reddit and the other social media outlets, there will be people in your niche online.
Then, once you’ve found them, make your broad stereotype more accurate based on the data you find. From there, you can build a profile and start working out where to go next.