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How do I target my audience

by networkmom
30 replies
I need to target children's physical therapy centers, ymca's, schools etc.. I would like some ideas besides cold calling to target these people online to get my message out to them. Please any ideas?
Here is the website www.fitnessandkids.com I also do not like the main page at all but have no idea what to do to make it better?

Thank you
Denise
#audience #target
  • Profile picture of the author zinsavage123
    Have you considered or doing blogging on that niche? That will help you reach organic targeted crowds/people for it. You could try some offline for that as well. Business cards, flyers etc etc.
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    • Profile picture of the author networkmom
      I do have a blog using blogger.com but have not really been doing much with it, maybe I should start, I get so much spam posts when I was blogging. I need to learn wordpress better my site is set up with wordpress but I have comments off so I guess I can not use a page for blogging or can I?

      Denise
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      • Profile picture of the author oWriter
        Banned
        Originally Posted by networkmom View Post

        I do have a blog using blogger.com but have not really been doing much with it, maybe I should start, I get so much spam posts when I was blogging. I need to learn wordpress better my site is set up with wordpress but I have comments off so I guess I can not use a page for blogging or can I?

        Denise
        Yes you can add a page on your site dedicated for a blog. I believe there's an option in the "Settings" area somewhere that will allow you to turn the comments on.
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      • Profile picture of the author jezter6
        Originally Posted by networkmom View Post

        I do have a blog using blogger.com but have not really been doing much with it, maybe I should start, I get so much spam posts when I was blogging. I need to learn wordpress better my site is set up with wordpress but I have comments off so I guess I can not use a page for blogging or can I?

        Denise
        Blogging is just the act of writing text on a regular basis. Wordpress/blogger/whatever, it's just repeated writing on a subject. doesn't matter if it's a post, or page, or comments or not. Using a CMS (wordpress) only allows you to keep track of them in an easier way, but you could theoretically write individual HTML "blog" articles as long as you have an area on your page that links to those articles and preferably you have a way to navigate to them.

        I think you already have a good start on the "articles" section of your site where I found a few things that already work as blog entries. Just find out how to get those into your navigation so people can find them. It took me quite a while.
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  • Profile picture of the author janicetalberty
    blogging on the niche topic and build a list. Then survey your list on what they really want.
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  • Profile picture of the author oWriter
    Banned
    Originally Posted by networkmom View Post

    I need to target children's physical therapy centers, ymca's, schools etc.. I would like some ideas besides cold calling to target these people online to get my message out to them. Please any ideas?
    Here is the website Health, exercise and fitness equipment for kids Fun fitness activities to keep kids healthy and Fit! I also do not like the main page at all but have no idea what to do to make it better?

    Thank you
    Denise
    First off, be an authority in that niche. You picked a really good one, and I'm pretty sure there's a lot of opportunities waiting to be discovered there. I can see that your website has some great content on it, so you are more than halfway there.

    But you need more content on the topics on your site. Speaking of which, yes, the site looks a bit thin, the photos too small. And the first thing I saw on the home page was BUY NOW, which was rather off-putting...

    But maybe you can add product reviews?
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  • Profile picture of the author thekaver
    why not try to collect all there emails address and then send maybe 2 or 3 emails out over the space of a couple of weeks just introducing yourself and your services. You will prob get replies just from that.

    But then after that you can follow it up with a call to "see if they received your email"
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  • Profile picture of the author oWriter
    Banned
    I have read your other threads regarding your website and I must say, you really need to fix your website first before you get your audience to go there. Otherwise, all your efforts at targeting schools and ymca's etc would be all in vain.

    Why?

    Because, yes, you contacted them and told them to go to your site (via emails, offers, blogs, etc). They are there, then what? They won't even last a minute because they don't like what they see.

    I don't mean to be rash and insensitive, but I think you have to consider revamping your website first. Look at it from a buyer's perspective. If you are targeting educators and businesses, then your site should reflect professionalism, too. Why would they buy from you if they can buy from a site that has everything they need?

    Revamping your site shouldn't take long, because you already have the foundation, and some content on it. You just need a bit more. If you can't do it by yourself, hire someone within your budget to do it.
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    • Profile picture of the author networkmom
      Thank you, I agree I just don't know how to revamp it, I like to work on my own site than to hire it out,. I guess I should look into this.

      Thank you
      Denise
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      • Profile picture of the author oWriter
        Banned
        Originally Posted by networkmom View Post

        Thank you, I agree I just don't know how to revamp it, I like to work on my own site than to hire it out,. I guess I should look into this.

        Thank you
        Denise
        Go for it and wish you all the best If you need someone to do it though, I know a dude who can do it for $50 (redesign your site and add content). OOps, don't mean to advertise!
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  • Profile picture of the author jezter6
    oWriter is correct.

    You need to redo your website before you bother sending people with money and authority to buy to it. You're not selling $7 IM ebooks here...you're listing thousand dollar exercise bikes for kids. If you want people to drop $1-5k on some products, you're going to have to be really on the mark.

    1) You need consistency. Your font selection, size, and colors are all over the map. Pick some colors and stick to it. Red menus, blue titles, orange accents...nothing seems to match. The product names inside the blue buttons are horrid. In the main nav dropdown menus, you used mixed capitalization and generally crappy text.

    2) More consistency. If you use the main nav dropdown and select the DDR page, you see 2 DDR pads with what seems like a second upsell option, but you don't really describe what the more expensive piece really is. In fact, there's generally no titles, boldness, that says what exactly each product is. Then you go down to the footer nav and select "Kids fitness" - and it takes you to another DDR page, different from the first one, with stuff in some tables, but nothing is lined up, fonts are mixed from regular to small size, you're getting broken images, and generally again no bold titles and spacing to show a title of the product and the picture. It looks like scraped content crap. Then you click on some of the DDR products and get 404s where it looks like a full article about the product is.

    It looks like you have a "store" for things, then you also have products/categories as part of your page that don't appear like they're part of the store catalog. What's the deal?

    3) You should probably build some authority. Start on your homepage and write some text about why kids fitness is important, and what you're doing about it. Your whole top nav is just different sales pages of equipment and a link to the store. You have what might be some good content in a blog, but they're hidden somewhere deep in some "kids articles" text link down in the footer. Put links to recent articles/posts up there where they can be seen. Build some trust with your audience that you're not just a catalog drop shipping site.

    4) If you want "featured" stuff, don't feature stuff in the footer. Crank that up above the fold where people will see it. And if you're just linking to something in the catalog (first example for me was the hardball pitching machine), the single paragraph of text is a straight C/P from the store page. Why does it deserve "featured" status? And why aren't you actually featuring it? Write something about it and link to the catalog page. Otherwise you have crap duplicate content.
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    • Profile picture of the author networkmom
      jezter6 thanks for your input, no offense taken, I know my site needs help just don't know how to go about it. any yes I am I guess an authority, I am certified trainer and have been doing this for a while so it is not like I am doing this and know nothing of the industry. My site at one time had a lot of sales but I was also the number one spot in google and other search engines for the keywords I was targeting and not my supplier has moved ahead of me making it harder for me to get sales. I do have repeat sales from some of the schools and other places who ordered from me previously but it is just not enough. There is more competition out there due to my supplier getting everyone to sell for them. I have to start working on some of these things, Thank you for all your help and comments!

      Denise
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      • Profile picture of the author Marx Vergel Melencio
        Denise,

        Just want to clarify one thing. Based on your post above -- You aren't targeting direct retail customers (parents of those kids and students), but rather the key personnel of those centers and schools, specifically their executives and employees who make purchasing decisions for equipment and materials (relevant to your offers) to deploy in their centers and schools and / or to recommend to their customers and students, correct?

        If so, then you can try developing a target list of specific centers and schools, along with the names and delegation of their key personnel. Next:

        Search for those key executives and employees in Facebook. You can also search in Facebook for those centers and schools, since the Facebook page administrators of those centers and schools could most likely be among your target employees, or they could possibly be connected somehow to those key executives and employees. Get their UIDs (user IDs). Also take note of the Facebook groups that they are members of, since this would most likely be relevant peer groups for you to include in your target list, and also get the UIDs of the members of those Facebook groups. Then:

        Use those UIDs to create a custom audience in Facebook Power Editor. Next:

        Create an enticing mailing list subscription offer. Integrate an auto responder and mailing list subscription box with compelling copy for your offer into a visible section of your site theme, so it'll be effectively visible when viewers go to your site's landing page. Then:

        Create a Facebook page for your campaign and integrate your mailing list subscription copy and box as the landing page of first time visitors of your Facebook page. Then:

        Create an attention-grabbing introductory video with compelling copy for your site and offers. Upload it to Youtube. Embed your introductory video and copy in the landing page of your site. Embed your introductory video and copy in your Facebook page as a pinned to top post. Next:

        Integrate traffic and conversion tracking systems into the pages above. This is in order for you to tweak whatever it is you're doing in this campaign. Then:

        Create a Facebook ad campaign for say $XX/day within XX days, so you won't end up spending money that you can't invest in this test campaign. Then, under this Facebook ad campaign:

        Create PPC or PPM right-column and news feed ads for your site's landing page. You can configure ad target URL focus to be on your introductory video and / or on your mailing list subscription copy and box. Of course, your ads should have attention-grabbing icons / images and enticing headlines and compelling copies. Hook these ads to your Facebook page. Then:

        Set your ads to use the custom audience that you created in Facebook Power Editor as the target audience of your ads. Also:

        You can create a PPM news feed ad for your Facebook page's pinned to top post with your introductory video and copy as a boosted post that targets your custom audience (via the advanced options of Facebook boost post)...

        Anyway, you can apply the same fundamentals above for a custom campaign that targets direct retail customers (parents of those kids and students)...

        Hope this helps...
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      • Profile picture of the author jezter6
        Originally Posted by networkmom View Post

        jezter6 thanks for your input, no offense taken, I know my site needs help just don't know how to go about it. any yes I am I guess an authority, I am certified trainer and have been doing this for a while so it is not like I am doing this and know nothing of the industry. My site at one time had a lot of sales but I was also the number one spot in google and other search engines for the keywords I was targeting and not my supplier has moved ahead of me making it harder for me to get sales. I do have repeat sales from some of the schools and other places who ordered from me previously but it is just not enough. There is more competition out there due to my supplier getting everyone to sell for them. I have to start working on some of these things, Thank you for all your help and comments!

        Denise
        Glad you didn't take offense to my style.

        The only options you have on fixing it are learning it, or paying someone to do it. I'm not sure what CMS you're using so I can't really give any pointers. There's really so much you really could do to improve that it might be better finding a way to start from scratch, particularly if currently your visits are low and not converting. otherwise I'd figure out how to get a test site up and going, work on it, and move it over. but I'm not sure your level of technical knowledge on the subject would allow you to do that without paying someone.

        Since you're truly an authority and not just an IMer making a niche site, then I think putting some personality and YOU into the site will make things a lot better.

        Get some content on there, and I'd bet you start to rank. Right now, you have no content to rank other than individual product terms. I won't ask you to publicly "out" your keywords on a forum, but certainly think about what they are and what text is on your page that is showing Google and others that you have something to say about your KWs. Feel free to PM if you want more advice. I'm not in your market at all, and don't really care to be.

        Use your offline authority to work on sales while you're getting your site together. Make contacts. Remember - you don't have to sell on every pitch. Getting people to know your name when they're ready to order can be just as helpful.
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        • Profile picture of the author networkmom
          When you say content, what exactly do you mean? I have an articles page that has a lot of articles with content.

          Thank you
          Denise
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  • Profile picture of the author Superstar88
    Hire someone who can redo your website. If you already are satisfied on how your webpage looks, promote your website using Social Media traffic such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. I personally like using Facebook in building my audience because of their share and like platform.
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  • Profile picture of the author jezter6
    Also, that came off as harsh, so I'll apologize now. It's my style to be blunt, and isn't meant as any sort of personal insult to you or your site.

    As for getting people to your site, you have a couple of options.

    1) The cold call. You hate it, and most do.
    2) SEO. Put content up aside from just products, and find out what people in those positions search for when they decide to buy equipment and get yourself at the top.
    3) PPC. If you can't SEO yourself to the top, pay for ads at the top of search and drive traffic that way.

    Assuming you're passionate about this industry and are actually in it (not just some back seat IMer creating a niche site for a few sales) then chances are you know people in the industry and can talk to them about what drives their decisions and what their purchasing system is like. Larger companies (probably like YMCA) often have a "preferred vendor" list that corporate HQ has already negotiated some discounts with and they're only allowed to order from people on that list. If so, you need to find out how to get on that list! Same with schools. I guarantee some school gym admin has the authority to do random searches for stuff and hope you're in the results. Find out how their systems work and get into them.

    Also, start local. If you have a physical location somewhere, then promote hard to your local area. Position yourself as a local leader in the industry. Do you have a warehouse where some of this is set up that people can come in and look? It's hard to think about just buying large expensive equipment without being able to see it in person (at least some of the items). Are you positioned locally to be "that person"?

    What benefits do you have to offer the rest of the country (or world). It looks like you're not geo-targeting, which means someone from Alaska could be looking at your products...but what makes you any different than anyone else selling the same stuff? I mean, I looked up some Monkey water slide thing and dozens of people are selling it...so what makes YOU the person to go to for water slides?

    Position yourself. Write content about your items that let people know "hey, this isn't just someone selling a cardboard box with a plastic slide in it".
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  • Profile picture of the author nicholasb
    get a good list broker and rent a direct mail list, direct mail is still a very powerful way of marketing, just make sure your offer is powerful enough to make it profitable.
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  • Profile picture of the author William2010
    The best way to do this, is to use Facebook custom audience feature..target facebook groups and pages in your niche, scarpe thier UID, and then start a FAcebook ad.. it s the best solution for your advertising needs
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    • Profile picture of the author networkmom
      Originally Posted by William2010 View Post

      The best way to do this, is to use Facebook custom audience feature..target facebook groups and pages in your niche, scarpe thier UID, and then start a FAcebook ad.. it s the best solution for your advertising needs
      scarpe thier UID? Have no idea what this means?
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  • Profile picture of the author jaytheanalyst
    Like everyone else is suggesting, implement blogging. I also suggest posting ads on websites within your niche.
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  • Profile picture of the author misterme
    What about going around speaking to groups at physical therapy centers, ymca's, schools.
    Build your email list there too.
    Promote your site.
    And tape those talks.
    Turn that into audio and video files.
    And build your reputation as an authority as you do that.
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  • Profile picture of the author DavidLowes
    Originally Posted by networkmom View Post

    I need to target children's physical therapy centers, ymca's, schools etc.. I would like some ideas besides cold calling to target these people online to get my message out to them. Please any ideas?
    Here is the website Health, exercise and fitness equipment for kids Fun fitness activities to keep kids healthy and Fit! I also do not like the main page at all but have no idea what to do to make it better?

    Thank you
    Denise
    A few cheeky ways I could think of! Get a robot to crawl Business Directory websites (Yellow Pages etc), obtaining e-mail addresses. Obviously you can't send bulk unsolicited mail-outs from this, but approaching them on a personal basis can certainly help.

    There's a thousand other things you could do with targeted ad campaigns, but if you want a freebie - that's a good place to start.
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  • Profile picture of the author shirleyleeman18
    why not try to collect all there emails address and then send maybe 2 or 3 emails out over the space of a couple of weeks just introducing yourself and your services. You will prob get replies just from that.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ghoster
    "We are your ultimate resource for information on how to keep your kids active, fit and healthy."

    Prove it to me. Put some content up on your site. You need to establish yourself as an expert in the space. What you're doing right now is hitting your visitors with a shotgun sales pitch.


    I find Twitter be very useful for building a targeted audience. Use hashtags to target your niche and help them out by pointing them to useful content. Once you gain a large number of followers, you can make self-promotional tweets every now and then. But I wouldn't send them to that site.


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  • Profile picture of the author angiecolee
    Blogging is not the end all be all of establishing authority.

    Try getting an article published. Try running a training course of some kind, virtually or in person.

    With so many people out there on the internet screaming for your attention every day, a blog is the last place I would start. Or at least I'd fortify that blog with other channels to prove I'm not making baseless claims.

    Otherwise everyone with a blog is an expert, and we KNOW that is not the truth.
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  • Profile picture of the author Nick Logan
    You can use Facebook groups to target your audience. Or make a blog as others said and get organic targeted visitors from Google.
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  • Profile picture of the author networkmom
    Thanks everyone for the great advice given, now can anyone recommend someone to work on my site. Someone on this board recommended someone to me and they took my money and did not work on my site.

    Thank you
    Denise
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  • Profile picture of the author poulsmith7878
    blogging on the niche topic and build a list.
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