If narrowing down your target market in order to increase revenues, price, status, and clients sounds counterintuitive, Episode 9 of Market Inside Out, “The Niche Mindset” will help you overcome your fears so you can niche the hell out of your target market. Especially if you’re a small business owner, the idea of niching can incite a lot of fears. Fear of commitment. Fear of excluding potential customers. Even that big-F-word fear—failure!

Before you take that deep niche dive, tune in to Suzanne Longstreet, Emma O’Brien, and Michelle Tresemer, who will allay your anxieties with this been-there-done-that conversation about adopting a niche mindset. They speak with sage experience about why niching is scary, what niching does and does not mean, the process of niching, and why you should take a deep breath and take that dive into your niche.

Takeaways

• Niching is hard, especially for small startups. Be gentle with yourself.
• When you appeal to a smaller, defined section of the market, you’re narrowing your type of client and you’re focusing in on who you really want to serve.
• Accepting Seth Godin’s “Everyone is not your customer” is a good first step to developing a niche mindset. Even though you might technically be able help anyone out there to a certain extent, you’ll be able to help your ideal client perfectly—like 100%. Since your time, money, and energy are limited, focus on those who will appreciate you, want to pay you for your services, and give you great referrals. 
• Picture customers in concentric circles on a bullseye: your ideal customers are in the center, potential customers who need coaxing are next, and the outer circle is comprised of floaters who are not ready to buy but they’ll need to know you’re there when they have cash in hand. Market for your ideal customers.
• Put your time, money, and energy into reaching the ideal customers.
• Get your niche as close as possible to your ideal customer, but be really open to that adjusting over time.
• Put your focus out there; appeal to that niche. If it doesn’t work, adjust.
• Finding your niche is a process, and one that you will be adjusting from here on out.
• For startups, think of your niche as your “not-forever niche.”
• For your customers, your specialization equates with a higher level of expertise. And they’ll be willing to pay for that expertise.
• When marketing to your ideal customer, be authentic and embed your passions and purpose into your messaging. 

Welcome to “Ghost Audience,” Episode 8 of theMarket Inside Out Podcast series. Join Suzanne Longstreet, Emma O’Brien, and Michelle Tresemer as they tackle ghost audiences. If you’re an entrepreneur or solopreneur who despairs because your last three content posts received only a few likes or shares, it’s time to relax and trust the spirits.

Suzanne, Emma, and Michelle are here to reassure you that there’s a ghost audience out there that you can’t see in metrics, and it haunts your website and social posts. But fear not! It’s a friendly crowd—think Casper not Zuul the Gatekeeper of Gozer. And this amorphous, passive crowd is reading your content, secretly shopping your website, and may just manifest as your next conversion.


Key Takeaways From Today’s Episode

• A ghost audience is an amorphous category of people who remain invisible on social media. They see and maybe read your content, but they aren’t big on clicking the ‘like’ button or interacting with a comment.
• A ghost audience is passive; it’s a category of people who get to know you through your marketing and only appear to you out of the blue when they’re ready to buy.
• The ghost audience shops secretly and doesn’t like giving out information. A high percentage of e-commerce shoppers research and shop on social media before you ever know they’re there.
• Keep writing for your ideal customer, for many are part of your ghost audience. Don’t get into the habit of writing only for those who hit “like.”
• Like billboards or magazine ads, a lot of people will see your posts without interacting.
• Know your ghost audience is there, even if you can’t directly measure them.
• Worry less about vanity metrics and more about your authentic message to your ideal customer. Remember, there are plenty of shady-ass ways to get your social media numbers up, and you don’t want to be that person!
• Finally, KEEP GOING, KEEP POSTING, BE CONSISTENT, AND BE PATIENT! Your ghost audience is out there, and they’ll show up when you really need a boost!

What energy do your social posts give off? Cold oatmeal? Junk mail? The ‘meh’ of an empty toilet paper roll? If your social posts are uninspired, Suzanne Longstreet, mindset and success coach, Emma O’Brien, brand strategist and messaging expert, and Michelle Tresemer, whole systems digital marketing coach, strategist, and consultant, get to the root of the problem. 

The mavens of marketing talk about expected outcomes when you write social media from a mindset devoid of enthusiasm. And they’ve got advice on how to reach out to your target audience from a swirl of energy and enthusiasm. Likening these two states to vacuum or vortex, today’s conversation examines the visibility mindset, how to manage spells of low energy, how to ensure your energy conveys that you give a shit, and how to maintain your love for your clients in a language they understand when you outsource social media. 

Today’s episode begs the question, “what energy does your social media send out into the world?” Pull on a pair of ear buds and let’s tap into your vortex energy!