You’ve devoted your heart, soul, time and money into your product, and now every last working minute is going towards marketing and actually finding your customers. You can pour hours into social media updates, ads and reviews, but is all that time actually bringing home the bacon?

Don’t get stuck wondering why all this time and attention to marketing isn’t bringing in the traction your business was hoping for…

Here’s your problem (and I’ll show you how to fix it):

You’re not appealing to the right people.

The internet offers you a smorgasbord of eyes to flaunt your product at: A lot of ‘em are gonna think “Huh, that’s kinda neat-o” but a very specific group will be like, “Gotta have that in my life right now!”

Paint a bullseye on those “Gotta Have It’s” – your new marketing strategy is all about them.

You may find an image or quote that you think really captures the wit and sophistication of your brand, but hold your horses on the Instagramming before you consider this:

“Just because you like what you make, do NOT assume that you are your target market,” says Caitlin Becher of Little Farm Media.

So just because you find an image or message appealing doesn’t mean you’re going to hook a community of interested buyers by sharing it.

To really aim your marketing dead-center, let’s target these “Gotta Have It” customers in a way that they can’t say no.

Defining Your Target Market – What You’re Doing Wrong That’s Affecting Sales

Now, I know this isn’t a brand-spanking new step – so you’ve probably already taken a moment to define your target customer. You already know a little about them, for example their age group, gender, etc.

You’re on the right track, and that’s great! But let’s make sure you’re not wasting your oh-so-important time on these common misconceptions:

Marketing Mistake #1: You Define Your Target Market with Basic Demographics

Identifying the demographics you aim your product at helps segment the market into targeted groups, but it does not make up the complete picture. A person’s age and gender isn’t why they buy from you.

To truly define your target market, you need to consider other puzzle pieces like their lifestyle, location, their habits and behavior…

Once you know them on a more personal level you can understand what it is about your product that appeals to your customers – and market the heck out of that.

Marketing Mistake #2: You Assume Less-Specific Marketing will Appeal to More People

When you send out mass-appealing content you may get a larger number of people seeing your stuff. The thing is, a lot of those people will just give you the “Huh, neat-o” response and then, well… forget about you.

The average American is exposed to up to 5,000 marketing messages a day – so yeah, a weakly aimed effort is just going to drown in the clutter.

But when you really zero in on the needs and values of an individual, they’ll feel like your product was made just for them and they’re way more likely to remember your brand and make a purchase!

So, how do you laser-target your marketing to these people who are bursting to buy?

Convert More Sales From Your Marketing With Individual Buyer Personas

Have you ever had to get a gift for someone you don’t really know that well? Would they like a nice sweater or are they more of a jacket-wearing person? Would they prefer a nice bottle of Zin or a 6-pack of hoppy craft ales?

It’s a game of guesswork and generalizing.

Now think about buying a gift for your best friend – you already know she’s wild about cooking, or his favorite color is red, and so on.

Creating a buyer persona (or a few) helps you zero in on your customers’ tastes, appeal to them, and totally nail a sale.

What’s a Buyer Persona?

A buyer persona is a detailed description of a single individual who fits into your target market.

Let me explain in an example:

Perhaps you sell… organic and healthy granola bars. Then you might have a couple personas who look like:

So now you can see two specific people who buy your granola bars – sharing content that Jack or Sarah will be interested in is way easier than sharing something for a faceless mass of ‘young, active adults.’

Plus, aiming your content toward their specific tastes will turn Jack and Sarah into loyal customers and gain traction within the community they roll with.

That means converting more sales!

Get To Know Your Own Customers with Individual Buyer Personas

Here’s your step-by-step breakdown to find the buyer personas unique to your products.

Follow the guided questions on the worksheet to really get your brain thinking about specifics.

You may want to create a few more personas, since not everyone in your target audience is exactly the same. Pick 1-3 personas that represent the 1-3 types of people that would buy your product.

Use Your More Detailed Buyer Personas For Knock-out Marketing that Boosts Sales

Now that you’ve redefined your target market and gotten into the heads of individual buyers, keep this new knowledge front and center.

Print those personas out and pin them up where you work – from now on, everything you produce, market, brand, blog and sell relates back to them.

Taking the time to aim everything back to the people in your bullseye will add the value and appeal that earns their loyalty – and in turn you’ll get more sales from a product you’re truly passionate about!

Who’s one of your buyer personas? Tell me about what content you post that he/she loooves in the comments!