Target Market, Niche or ICA? What's the difference & why it matters.
I kicked off my SheInBiz™ Summer Intensive this week with a group of amazing women who are ready to grow their impact and their income.
And one of the very first steps they’re taking is to get clear on the people they serve and the problems they solve.
Because the reality is, if you’re not clear on the specific group of people you serve and the specific problem you solve, you’ll find yourself struggling with every other aspect of your business.
So if right now you’re struggling with:
Not knowing what content to create 😳
Unsure of where to connect with your clients 🤝
Confused about what offers or packages to sell 💸
Worried about how to price your services 📈
Frustrated that you’re not getting clients 😔
Then I can almost guarantee you’ve still got some work to do in figuring out who you serve and the problems you solve.
One of the most common mistakes I see people making when it comes to figuring out who they serve is to start by creating their ideal customer avatar.
If you’ve tried this, you know how difficult it can be to know your ideal customer including what their favourite Netflix series is when you barely know who they are and what they care about.
That’s why I suggest you start by first figuring out your target audience. This is the first step in getting to know who you serve.
Once you’ve figured that out, then you’re ready to get clarity on your niche.
And only when you’ve nailed your niche, are you ready to get into the nitty-gritty details of your customer avatar.
Knowing the difference between each of these is one of the main factors in determining whether you keep struggling in your business or are finally ready to grow your business into a sustainable source of income.
Most entrepreneurs when they start a business already have a general idea of who they want to serve. The problem is they don’t ever do the work of going beyond their initial assumptions of who these people are to really get to know them and their specific needs.
Typically when you think of who you’re serving, you’re thinking about characteristics that fall into what is called your Target Market.
Your target market is the specific group of people who are most likely to buy your product or service.
Your TARGET MARKET is made up of the following 4 segments:
Demographic: who they are including: age, gender, income, location, education, ethnicity, marital status, occupation etc.
Psychographic: what they think including: interests, hobbies, values, religious & political affiliations, priorities etc.
Behavioural: how they behave including: where they shop, what media do they consume, what brands do they like, what causes do they support etc.
Geographic: beyond their location, your business may require you to take into consideration whether they live in an urban or rural environment, specific climate or region.
Most entrepreneurs I know will answer one or two of the questions above and think they’ve done the work of figuring out who they serve. So they might end up with something that sounds like….
I work with professional, single women
I work with moms of young children
I work with seniors who live alone
But in order to really understand who you serve and how you can best help them, you need to go deeper into understanding who they are and what they need.
So go back to the target market segments and see what else can you include about who you serve.
You might end up with something like this…
I work with professional, single women over 40 who live in Vancouver and have an active and healthy lifestyle.
I work with stay-at-home moms of young children who have little access to community support.
I work with seniors with mobility issues who live alone in downtown Toronto.
Now that you have a better picture of your target market, it’s time to move on to your Niche.
➡️Your Niche is made up of your TARGET MARKET + THE PROBLEM you help your target market solve. ⬅️
Your NICHE is the service that you specialize in offering to your target market.
In order to know your Niche you need to know the specific problem your business solves. What is it that people are paying you for?
So going back to the previous examples, you’re niche might sound like:
I work with professional, single women over 40 who live in Vancouver and have an active and healthy lifestyle. They want to eat healthy, home-cooked meals but don’t have the time to shop or prepare their food.
I work with stay-at-home moms of young children who have little access to community support and are looking for ways to entertain their children while also giving them more time for themselves.
I work with seniors with mobility issues, who live alone in downtown Toronto and need help with their regular weekly errands.
Once you’re clear on who you serve (your target market) and the problem you solve for them (your niche) you’re ready to create your ideal customer avatar.
Your ideal customer avatar (ICA) represents just ONE IDEAL client.
This is the person you love to serve who has the exact problem you solve.
It may take working with a number of different clients at first in order to get really clear on your ICA, but the more clarity you have on who your ICA is, the easier it will be for you to create content and offers that connect instantly with what your ICA wants and needs.
Taking the niche example above:
Professional, single women over 40 who live in Vancouver and have an active and healthy lifestyle. They want to eat healthy, home-cooked meals but don’t have the time to shop or prepare their food.
Your ICA might sound like this:
Mary is a Marketing Manager in downtown Vancouver. She’s an early riser and likes to get in a workout before heading into the office. She usually works late and is tired of her usual take-out spots. When she comes home at night, she wants a quick, healthy meal she can whip up in 30 mins or less.
Now that you have a good understanding of who Mary is you’re in a much better position to know what type of content Mary might want to hear about. Or what types of offers she’d be interested in. You also know where she hangs out and where you might find other clients like Mary.
So while it may seem like a lot of work to figure out your Target Market, Niche and ICA, it’s also the work that will simplify every other aspect of your business.
Because once you’re clear on who you serve and the problems you solve you’ll have the clarity you need to create compelling content, know how and where to connect with your ideal clients and be so clear on what they need from you, that you’ll confidently convert them into paying customers.
If you’re looking for more help on how to determine the problem you solve and how to connect with your ideal customers, download my 5 Questions to Turn your Passion into Profit.
Here we grow!
Celia