rachidraj

You might think, as a freelancer, that you aim to generate as much business as possible without leaving anyone out. You try to create as broad a target audience as possible, perhaps even saying that your services are for "anyone" or "everyone". However, when you try to include too many people in your target audience, it is not clear who you can help or what you can offer.

To avoid this, you need to define your target audience. That will allow your business to grow, attracting the kind of customers you want to work with. Your goal is to be able to tell whether or not you can serve someone, and whether or not you want to serve someone.

Here are four simple steps you can take to achieve this:

Step 1: Understand the pain points of your target audience.
The first step you need to take is to think from the perspective of your target audience. You need to understand the challenges they face so that you can solve them. If there are specific pain points that they encounter repeatedly, then you need to know them. Understand them well and consider them the starting point for all other steps.

Step 2: Find out the problems you solve for your target audience
The next step is to apply what you have learned about the pain points of your target audience. In this step, you are putting their pain points in terms of what you have to offer them. The clearer it is that you have adapted your services to their pain points, the stronger you will feel with your target audience. Try to use the same vocabulary they use to describe their challenges to describe your solutions as well.

Step 3: Look to other freelancers for ideas and guidance.
After this, you are going to take a step back from your own planning and your own business. You don't need to figure everything out from scratch. Instead, you can look at what other freelancers have done to define your target audience. To do this, look at how they present their services and how they describe their offerings.

Step 4: Conduct your own demographic research
The fourth step is the most technical. During this step, you conduct research. There are several methods to research your target audience, such as surveys and interviews. You'll want to contact the people you think might belong to your target audience to get an even firmer perspective on who they are.

Here's what to do next
Once you have followed these four steps, you can begin to improve your profile, research your audience on an ongoing basis, and set and reset goals for growth and expansion. Every step of the way, keep in mind what your target audience wants from you, as well as how they expect you to help them and what your demographics say about them.

For example, if you have learned that your target audience needs your help in clarifying the messaging or branding they use to communicate with your customers, you should integrate that knowledge into your performance descriptions. The key to effective segmentation is to gather as much information as possible and then apply it clearly.

As you get a clearer picture of your target audience, you can not only get more business for yourself, but also get more of the kind of business you want.