Hi Everyone,

I would appreciate some feedback on finding a target market. I'm considering offering these type of services (however I'm not exactly sure who to target): creating brochures, fliers, e-newsletters (not writing the actual content but adding graphics to the text), PP presentations, forms, spreadsheets, mail merge, etc.

I've been doing research on how to get started with setting up my business now I just need to figure out who I'm targeting so that I can learn the best way to market to those individuals and/or groups.

Thank you in advance for you help!

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Yolanda Allen

Yolanda,

Who do you like to work with? Do you have experience working with real estate professionals, medial professionals, etc.?

You also want to evaluate the type of personality you wish to work with. Do you like serious people or are you OK with funny people? Much depends upon your own personality. Do you like to work with men or women or both?

Ask yourself at what stage will you work with business owners? Do you want to work with solopreneurs or maybe you want to work with a team such as in real estate.

You want to work with people who can pay you. While not always known if this is so how long someone is in business can be a determining factor as to whether you want to work with someone or not. Are your rates suitable for someone in a start-up business or do you think you need to work with someone who has been in business for a few years?

The services you provide can be utilized by most businesses but if you select an industry and define your 'ideal customer' your marketing to these businesses will open up. For example, if you want to work with real estate professionals, then you will target only these groups on places such as ActiveRain. But you will need to create these brochures, flyers and newsletter so your target market can see samples of you work and then gear your website toward the needs of that market.

I will say that many small business owners will add their own graphics to text or they just won't pay someone to do that particular task.

Think about combining your services into a package as well as an a la carte option for your target market. I'm thinking the academic, real estate, medical and coaching professionals might be interested in your services since these are services they can use.

Janine

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Thanks Janine for your response.

I'm just getting started so I haven't really sat down to think about what personality my ideal client has...need to do that!

I've only worked in non profit, I was in the fundraising department for a few years so these duties were needed on a regular basis. I've never worked with real estate professionals nor medical professionals.

I will take everything into consideration, now that I have sort of an idea of who could benefit from these services I can start taking more steps to narrow down who I am going to target to.

I like your idea about combining my services into a package!

thanks a million!!

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Yolanda Allen

Yolanda,

Non-profit can be a target market. I would suggest that you research how large, how small, type of non-profit but more importantly, what can you do to provide solutions to their administrative issues...

A really good way to get the non-profit VA experience is to volunteer your services to a local Humane Society or food bank. If you offer to organize their records, create a powerpoint presentation that can be uploaded to their LinkedIn account or offer to create an email campaign for them I guarantee (and I mean, guarantee - if nothing happens, then check with me and I'll help you with other ideas) you will gain the experience, the networking benefits, the samples you can provide on your website for other non-profits to see and most importantly, a testimonial crucial to supporting your expertise.

Janine

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When I first started out, I focused on businesses that had only been around for approx a year (I specialize in bookkeeping) using the archives from the local paper to build a mailing list. It's good that you are looking into a target market instead of 'floundering in the dark' as so many do!

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Lily Chambers, The Virtual Office Goddess, LLC
Author "How to Do Your Own Small Business Bookkeeping"

thank you guys for your input.

Janine, I use idealist.org a lot to find non profit jobs so I may be able to use that to find out about organizations that may need a volunteer as well as how big they are & when they got started.

Lily, when you say the archives of the local paper, do you mean you did this at the library? What section would you look in to find out information on businesses that just started in the past year or so? This idea has never crossed my mind

Sorry if that is a stupid question.

thanks again for your help

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Yolanda Allen

Originally Posted by VAtoday

Lily, when you say the archives of the local paper, do you mean you did this at the library? What section would you look in to find out information on businesses that just started in the past year or so? This idea has never crossed my mind Sorry if that is a stupid question.

I once had a teacher who said "the only stupid questions are the ones that weren't asked."

Yes, I used the library archives and searched the 'legal notices' section. You can also find some great info in their online database "ReferenceUSA." All you need is a library card to access it, and it available online from home.

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Lily Chambers, The Virtual Office Goddess, LLC
Author "How to Do Your Own Small Business Bookkeeping"

Hi Yolanda. I really enjoyed reading "The Boss of You" by Mears and Bacon. I found the chapters on marketing extremely helpful, and I was able to use the information to narrow down my target market. I am not sure if I've been totally successful yet, since I am just starting and haven't done a lot of marketing to my target yet, but I do feel it was very helpful in getting me to see my target much more clearly. I just borrowed the book from the library for free.

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Chela Lucia
www.LucentAdminSolutions.com The Bright Choice for Virtual Assistance!

Yolanda,

Here is a link to a very good website which matches skills with non-profits and other companies looking for volunteers.

http://www.volunteermatch.org/

There is an alert system which will email suggestions to you as they pop up in your area. You can also click 'virtual' under the location box for virtual opportunities as well.

Janine

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Yolanda, I think Janine gave you a lot of good advice. In the end, only you can know what type of personality you prefer to work with or even, what kind of industry or number of years a company has been in business. Take the time to figure it out. Jot down ideas that come to you so you have a reference to week through. And, good luck with your business.
Wendy

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