Profitable from Day One: Startup Success

Today, in 5 minutes or less, you’ll learn:   

1. About the essential concepts of niche, ideal customer, unique value proposition and positioning.  
2. About common pitfalls business owners can face if they don’t consider these concepts. 
3. How to attract your ideal customer like a magnet. 

Are you ready to dive into the heart of your online business journey? As you move from brainstorming your idea to making it happen, some essential marketing and sales elements must be considered.    

It is crucial to get off to a solid start and avoid common pitfalls that can make your journey much harder, such as:  

• Following your interests and passions and struggling to find a market for your good or service.  

• Selling a product or service that does not have a unique advantage against existing or new competitors.   

• Attracting customers who aren't excited, willing and able to pay.   

• Spending too much time and energy on the wrong things early on, such as business cards, technology, domains and business names.    

I want to help you avoid these obstacles and set yourself up for success. So today's newsletter will focus on understanding your dream customer, uniquely solving their problem, and positioning your brand to attract them like a magnet.  

Focus #1 Ideal Customer/Niche (Who)  

The first thing to consider is your niche, another word for target market. Your niche is the customer that you are focused on helping. You need to tune into one customer's problems and pain points and focus on providing solutions.   

For example, rather than working with anyone who wants to start a business, I am focused on helping mums start their own online business. I can still help others start a business, including men, but all my marketing and products focus on supporting mums. I try to speak to mums. I know intimately how challenging it is to start a business as a mum, so everything I do is helping mums overcome all their obstacles (procrastination, being overwhelmed, organisation, technical skills, imposter syndrome) to succeed.   

Some tips when thinking about your ideal customer and niche:   

• You can brainstorm in many different places: competitors, Facebook groups, freebies and cheap offers, free versions of programs, purchases of goods and services, email subscriptions, and watching how others market.   

• Well-known, profitable categories in which to start a business include health, wealth, and relationships.   

• Avoid overwhelm when choosing a niche. You can adjust your niche as you evolve your business. The important thing is to select one ideal customer and then test and see what works.    

• Set a deadline for your research and brainstorming, and then decide.   

Focus #2 Specific Problem you Solve  

Once you have chosen a dream customer, deep-dive into who they are. I encourage you to learn their demographics, like age, location, job, relationship status, etc., and psychographics, like attitudes, behaviours, and aspirations.  Russell Brunson, an online business guru, encourages followers to write down all the characteristics of their ideal customers in his book Dotcom Secrets. He then recommends they find and focus on a Google visual representing this person. He says, "It's amazing how your perspective changes when you have a physical picture of your ideal customer—instead of a hazy, half-formed image in your head."   

It is essential to be tuned in to everything about your ideal customer, especially their wants, needs, desires, and pain points, and then care so much about helping them succeed. The better you can tap into their goals and solve their problems, the better you will go.  

If you want a successful and profitable online business, try not to follow your passions and interests without thinking about having an ideal customer willing, able, and excited to pay you for helping them.   

Also, the more specific you can identify your target audience, the more successful you will be. By focusing on a particular group's problems, you can establish yourself as a trusted specialist.     

Focus #3 Your Unique Value Proposition  

Your mission is to create value and delight for your customers. Care deeply about their success and tailor your products and marketing to support them.    

How can you create something new and exciting for them? How can you solve their problems in a better way than your competitors? Why should they work with you instead of someone else? Why are you a specialist? What skills or experience do you bring? What is unique about you? 

Focus #4 Your Positioning  

Let's also delve into the concept of positioning. It's about being who you are to your target customer. Your niche and your brand's positioning should match. Your brand personality and the image you project need to resonate with your ideal customer.  Remember, you attract who you are.   

What is your brand personality? Think about your images, branding, colours, story, copy, how you show up, and what you put into the world.   

For example, Kmart is positioned in a very cut-price chic way—on-trend products at low everyday pricing. In contrast, David Jones or Myer provides a different shopping experience—high quality, expensive, well-known labels, high-end customer service and experience. Apple has a distinct personality: innovative, imaginative, creative, providing value and connection with customers, no discounting, and high quality. Apple attracts those sorts of people.   

You have to be on the same frequency to attract your person. If you want to work with wealthy, successful women and charge high-end prices, everything about your offer and visual presence must resonate with them. Striking images, copy that reflects their situation, and the solutions you offer need to inspire them and offer a significant amount of value. These women need to connect with your story.   

In contrast, if you target frugal, budget-conscious women, everything about your brand personality should reflect who they are and what they value.   

If you're not attracting the people you want to work with, it's a clear sign that your positioning needs to change. Reassess where you need to and adjust your strategy to align with your target audience better. 

Summary  

To summarise:  

• Your niche is your target market, and your ideal customer is the person you're focused on helping.   

• The better you are at creating unique solutions to your customer's problems, the more success you will have in attracting your dream customers.   

• Your niche and your positioning must match.  

I look forward to helping you unpack your ideas for your niche, positioning, unique value proposition, and brand personality. Tuning into these will help you get off to a great start!