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seadog93 Inner circle 3200 Posts |
Hello all,
So I kind of know what a market segment is (I think) but I'm having a heck of time choosing one. I'm working through "Marketing your services" by Anthony Putman. To determine my market segment I'm supposed to brain storm everyone I can think of who could use my services, then put similar groups together and finally analyze the final few into my one target market. My problem is that I feel like I'm going in the wrong direction. I started off listing groups like birthday parties, weddings and club meetings. Another set was coffee shops, restaurants and fundraisers. I'm using the above groups as examples from my brainstorm of groups I thought were similar; I grouped the first set with private events seeking entertainment and the second was promotions. I had about three other larger groups. I feel like the larger groups that I came up with are just to vague to be very useful. Do you agree? If so, does that mean I should trying to limit myself to something as specific as just one type of party or promotion or whatever. That seems overly specific to me and I don't think I am experienced enough to specialize to this degree. I really appreciate any help or suggestions that any of you pros would be willing to offer. Thank you so much, -Courtney
"Love is the magician who pulls man out of his own hat" - Ben Hecht
"Love says 'I am everything.' Wisdom says 'I am nothing'. Between the two, my life flows." -Nisargadatta Maharaj Seadog=C-Dawg=C.ou.rtn.ey Kol.b |
Mindpro Eternal Order 10586 Posts |
To me this means segmenting your market which is often an exercise to allow you to see or create perspective or clarity to what you normally may not see so obviously, or to what you may have difficulty seeing or defining.
For example, common performance markets may be the education market, corporate markets, fairs & festival markets, or kids/family markets. These are each markets. Within these markets are different segments, for example in the Education Market you have segment breakdowns: Schools (K-8) Assemblies, fundraisers, entertainment, teachers in-service, workshops, association events (local, regional, national), leadership events, parent education, etc. High Schools Assemblies, Entertainment (dances, prom, grads, senior events, after game celebrations, etc.), fundraisers, Boosters, Band, Student Councils, workshops, association events (local, regional, national), leadership events, parent education Colleges Student Government, Programming, Theater, Clubs, Associations, etc. Guest speakers, entertainment, student events, family events, community events, fraternity/sorority events, drive/pledges, etc. Then each of these individual segments can themselves be broken down - Colleges - orientation, parents/family weekend, rush week events, stress/exam-busters and so on. These are just a small sampling of segments for the education market, there are many more as well. So saying you work "the school market" as many magicians do, is really a blanket or vague statement. The "school market" can have over 40 or 50 segments to it. This why it bothers me when members here say the work the "school market", when in actuality all they do is their typical kids magic show with quick lame tie-in to some topic of interest to the school. To me (and many administrators and educators) this is not working the "school market". Usually segmenting means to break it down to clearly see and define it as it pertains to your interest and more specifically targeted segments that are what you want to pursue. Just because you can do a 40 minute magic show for an ice cream social, does not mean you can do or are interested in a teacher in-service program. Segmenting allows to to breakdown your exact interest and targets. This is usually done as part of initial goal setting, creating a business plan, or in developing a marketing plan or strategies. To truly determine the exact market segments you wish to serve and focus on. This of course should be done with each and every market you are interested in. I hope this helps. |
Scott Burton Inner circle 1131 Posts |
Ultimately, you will have to decide for yourself how you design your business. I'm encouraged to hear you are working on this.
I did notice that you are listing venues as opposed to clients. A "birthday party" isn't a client but "parents of small children" are. "Fundraisers" is again an event (not a client) and it would be more useful to say "Non-profits", "corporations", "charities", "service clubs", or even "schools" (which could be broken up into "elementary", "junior high", and "high school") - all of which may hold fundraisers. Perhaps this will help in your brainstorming as it will make more sense to combine markets this way. |
charliecheckers Inner circle 1969 Posts |
I have personally found it to be more fruitful to pursue a select few markets with greater attention to each, than pursue many markets. For example, my main pursuit has been Library Shows. I spent the vast majority of my time and money attracting clients from this market. This market alone provided me with a significant number of shows and also led to me getting booked for other markets such as birthday parties, country clubs, elementary schools and corporate picnics due to word of mouth. So by focusing primarily on one market, I was able to extend beyond that market. The only other market I pursued was Blue and Gold Scouting Banquets because it was a specific market wihere I could focus on a relatively small number of potential clients with a small time and financial commitment.
Prior to this, I was frustrated by trying to pursue many diverse potential clients , with few results. |
seadog93 Inner circle 3200 Posts |
Thank you all for your responses.
I admit that I am still struggling with this (actually, this is the reason I haven't gone through the book already). I'm now trying to separate venues and clients, but that's easier for me in some cases than others. For example, a mind reading show is easy to divide up in areas like; parents of teenage girls owners of beds and breakfasts members of ladies clubs party planners but something like a 'home psychic party' seems hard to segment. fairly well off (through wealthy) people with an interest in psychic readings and demonstrations. That's all I can think of.
"Love is the magician who pulls man out of his own hat" - Ben Hecht
"Love says 'I am everything.' Wisdom says 'I am nothing'. Between the two, my life flows." -Nisargadatta Maharaj Seadog=C-Dawg=C.ou.rtn.ey Kol.b |
Howie Diddot Inner circle San Francisco & Los Angeles California 3288 Posts |
I at times take the “SHOTGUN approach by soliciting different markets with advertising I think will connect with the type of performance that will interest the potential client.
Sometimes you don’t know what a client is searching for, or even further the client does not know what they want, so I “go fishing” as some people say, when I reel in a fish, or gain a client, I work off that lead and refine my advertising to reach other clients in the same, or related industry |
SpellbinderEntertainment Inner circle West Coast 3519 Posts |
Gravitational Marketing: The Science of Attracting Customers
(ISBN: 9780470226476) by Jimmy Vee, Travis Miller, Joel Bauer Helped me clarify just what my market was and how to tailor myself to it. (BTW Jimmy is a great guy who does magic and ventriloquism.) Walt |
Bill Hegbli Eternal Order Fort Wayne, Indiana 22797 Posts |
Quote:
On 2012-03-24 13:55, seadog93 wrote: Your approach is from the wrong view. Reread what MindPro and Scott Burton have written. If you notice, you are saying, I have a Mind Reading Act, and who would be likely to buy it. When you should be asking, who would be interested or can use/hire a Mind Reading Act. These are 2 different approaches. The 1st one is centered on you and your service. The second one is the potential customers that may have a need for your service. Remember the saying, find a need in the market place and fill it. That is the outlook you are to approach with marketing strategies. It is like plumbers, who needs a plumber, everyone, no not really , only home owners without plumbing experience. Who is your market, all home owners. To break that down further, home owners with no experience. Will this get you work, no, because, you need to market to home owners with immediate needs of plumbing services. Then want is your plumbing skill, this will even target market the potential customer even further down to specific type of plumbing jobs. |
seadog93 Inner circle 3200 Posts |
Quote:
On 2012-03-26 01:53, wmhegbli wrote: Good point, thank you. And Walt, Thank you also. If I can't find the book locally I'll order it today.
"Love is the magician who pulls man out of his own hat" - Ben Hecht
"Love says 'I am everything.' Wisdom says 'I am nothing'. Between the two, my life flows." -Nisargadatta Maharaj Seadog=C-Dawg=C.ou.rtn.ey Kol.b |
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