Building a Targeted List

Although many of you now know the importance of building your lists, you might not be aware of how a highly targeted list is paramount for your business. This final article in this series is speaking about that topic.

First, decide on your niche or target market. I know what you are thinking…duh Debbie my niche is rubber stamping! This topic is good, but could end up being quite global in nature. I want to challenge you to think narrower. A niche market is a highly targeted group of people. Finding a niche or target market inside of what Stampin’ Up! offers will set you apart from all the other demonstrators. While choosing a topic such as “stamping” is good, let’s target it even more on what you excel at or enjoy most about Stampin’ Up! How about these options: scrapbooking, 3D art, home décor, prolific blogger, Spanish language options, video demonstrations, working with stay-at-home-Moms, My Digital Studio, clear-mount stamps, great clubs/classes, classes to go, exceptional customer service, being a good leader, or training new stampers.

As you start to develop ideas about which niche you would like to focus on, start taking notice of your local demonstrators. Study the products and services they offer, the features and benefits of their services, and price points. This will help you develop your niche and services. What are the things you can improve upon? How can you make your services more unique? How can you provide more benefits to the customer or how can you make your services more affordable or convenient? Another research point is to look at your projects in the last three months or think about your best customers. What do they have in common? Finding a commonality will help find your niche.

Let me put you at ease here. Just because you are going to focus on a niche doesn’t mean you can’t offer everything Stampin’ Up! has to offer. This is just going to help find your target audience or best customers. Once you know where to find them, you can connect with them to add them to your contact list. You’re fine tuning the list for optimal profits. It’s much better to have a targeted list of 50 people than to have a global list of 500 who don’t really care or not interested in what you’re doing.

Let me give you an example. Let’s say you checked around and found there isn’t anyone in your local area hosting scrapbooking classes and you enjoy scrapbooking. This is a perfect niche for you. Start by setting up a consistent crop session or class every month. Now go to where scrapbookers (and potential scrapbookers) are and offer your services to them. Of course, you will want to add them to your list. Make sure that your email mailings include something about your niche each and every time. You’ll become the expert and people will seek you out to be on your list.

Everyone is looking for an angle. In business today, it is important to a way to reach your target customers. When you are building a list, a targeted and specific niche topic is the key to profits. Specializing in a narrow subject makes it easier to become the expert and a source of quality information. Once your subscribers gain that feeling of trust with you, they will recommend your site or mailing list to their friends. This is one of the great ways your list will keep growing; only now it’s with people you know are interested in what you have to offer.

To your success,