I hope you’ve been following my Instagram training this week?!

If not, you’ve still time to catch up with it here.

I’m sharing a key marketing technique that allows you to target your course at a specific kind of paying customer – the one that is right for you.

It means that you don’t need to build a big list, or waste time attracting lots of people…

And it will help you know exactly what to put in your course, and how to deliver it, so that your customers LOVE it.

So please do come over to Instagram here and check it out if you can!

But for today’s blog, I thought I’d expand on some of that training to give you quick, practical ideas for getting to know who you are trying to attract.

Because as I’ve explained, if you want to understand the emotions that drive your customer, you need to find out everything about them… right down to what they read, how they talk, what their ambitions are, and what they worry about at night.

Now, if you don’t have any customers yet, you might wonder how this is possible.

Well, the secret is this…

Visit their online ‘hangouts’!

Most of us now exist in digital spaces…

Facebook, YouTube, Forums, Twitter, Instagram… to name just a handful.

We use them to shop, search for information, make friends, share our photos and stories, make complaints, rant about what upsets us, gush about what TV films and music we love, and recommend stuff to our friends…

These spaces are where your potential customers are too.

They’re all somewhere online, enthusing, complaining, sharing, ranting and raving, telling you everything you could possibly need to know.

You need to be there too, watching, listening and taking notes!

So here are some specific ways you can find them and hang out with them (just pick a few to start with!).

• Google specific keywords related to your course idea to see what comes up. As much as possible, find blogs and specialist websites where fans or experts are writing articles, reviews, stories and experiences. Search on the comments beneath posts then cut and paste some of them to create a swipe file – negative comments are just as fruitful as positive ones!
• See if there are any forums or social media accounts that you can follow. These are hives of conversation, including gossip, complaints and recommendations.
• Join Facebook Groups where people interested in the subject hang out, and follow any business pages related to your course topic. Pay attention to the comments beneath.
• Get on social media networks like Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn, then use the search box to find conversations and posts about specific topics. Follow some of the key players in the conversation.
• Find hashtags (#) that are related to your topic, and then follow those hashtags. This way you’ll get a tailored feed with posts from people using them.
• Ask your social media followers a question, related to your course topic, and see what they say in response!
• Go to Amazon and look for books related to your course idea – now check out the reviews below.
• Do you know any ideal customers personally? Maybe friends, colleagues or family. Then talk to them. There’s no harm in asking what you could do to improve your service or help them better solve their problems or achieve their goals.
• Go to exhibitions, conferences and other events (online or offline) and hang out there for the day. Try and get the measure of the people there – note how they’re dressed, what they’re up to and what interests them.
• Find videos on YouTube – anything related to your course, or where someone is sharing information in that area. Again, look at the comments. They’re usually quite revealing.
• If you have any clients or customers already, then send out a survey asking them to answer some questions (offer an incentive like a report, discount or prize draw). Or email them to ask them about what it is they’re looking for and what problems they encounter.

Don’t get overwhelmed by this list – its to give you ideas…pick one or two and start there! You do need to do them all at once.

Basically, you need to go where your customers might be, and find out what they are thinking.

✓ What problems, frustrations and worries do they have?

✓ What are their goals and desires?

✓ What’s their general world view or perspective on life?

✓ Where do they currently seek out information online?

✓ What course, books or information products do they currently buy?

✓ What products do they like/dislike about the services and products they use?

When you begin to understand this, you will get to know what your course should focus on and how it should deliver on its promise.

If you want to know more, come over to Instagram and I’ll show you: You’ll find me here – I’d love to see you there.