What a Mom of Twins does NOT need to hear

I joined a twin club in Ottawa when I found out we were in a BOGO baby situation. 
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They offered prenatal classes for moms with multiples. (yes, some moms were having more that two)

​And even though I had already been through this experience once before - and had what the twin community calls a “singleton” already - having one baby vs having two babies was a whole new ballgame, with it’s own unique set of rules.

You could have divided that prenatal class in half. 

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On one side, the parents experiencing their first pregnancy, all happy and gleeful, feeling lucky that this wonderful miracle has occurred in their life. Then there was our side of the room, the parents who had at least one child at home and could clearly see how terrifying this situation was. 

This club had a newsletter and in the early days, when our babies were young and life was a schmozzle, I hung on every word. 

The common threads that connected the members of this club, for the most part, were that we had quite a few little kids, we were young, and most were struggling financially and emotionally. So the stories in this newsletter helped guide us through these early years.

Except this one story.

To my utter dismay, there was a short story in one of the newsletters from a new mom of twins who made a suggestion that she said was a total lifesaver for her family. Hire someone to come to your house overnight.

What?

Yes, bring someone in to deal with the babies overnight - the feeding, the changing, the crying. That way, you can get your sleep.

Did anyone read that story before it got published? I’m sorry, but the majority of the readers were struggling to pay for 4000 diapers a week, on 2 hours of sleep, with half their income, while needing two of EVERYTHING. We were hanging by a thread.

So that story hit hard. So hard that I still remember it. 

And that got me thinking about the importance of knowing your audience.

Unless that twin mom writer was trying to incite a riot by bragging about her charmed life - which I'm sure she was not - she completely misread the room.

And the room in this case was her fellow twin club moms. 

Who’s in the room you’re trying to read? These would be the people you want to do business with, your target market, your ideal clients. And how do you figure out who these people are, or who they should be?

Start with some brainstorming.

Think about the specific problem you are trying to solve. And when you nail that down, think about the key demographics of these people: gender, age, interests and hobbies, occupation, location, relevant behaviors (ie: how and where they shop, how much they are willing to pay, etc.), average income, level of education.
Next, survey your existing clients.

Besides demographic info, ask some questions about key issues and problems they face. It wouldn’t hurt to ask how and where your existing customers found out about you, so you know what you need to do and where you need to be in order to attract more like-minded clients.

Check out your Google analytics
These analytics can provide a bunch of great info from your website to identify your key audience. It may be the best way to see EXACTLY who you serve, and who you should look to serve going forward. 

Here are a couple of things you can check out:

• See the topics & content most viewed: Go to Behavior ⇒ Site Content, and sort by Page Views.
   
• See how your target audience found out about your site: Go to Acquisition ⇒ Overview, and dig down into each channel to find specific info.
   
• See some basic demographic info about your audience: Go to Audience ⇒ Overview to find info like country, city, language and even operating system used.

You can check-out your social media analytics too.
Most social networking sites give you data on your existing audience: Facebook Insights, Instagram Insights (for business accounts), etc. Check that out!

Then, from that information, you can...Create buyer personas

A buyer persona is a fictitious profile of your ideal customer. Using all the information you’ve figured out, you can create this profile and use it to inform all your marketing activities.

Include demographics (age, gender, marital status, etc.), motivations, interests and hobbies, shopping habits, values and goals.

And determine “What is the main problem they are trying to solve?”. This will be the foundation of every product or piece of content you create.

Create content that helps solve their biggest problems.
You know the key issues your target audience struggles with. Now address those issues in your content - speak directly to THIS person.
 
Remember: If you think of your target market as everyone, you will serve no one.

Find your unique group of people who want what YOU have to offer. Know where they are, what they need, and how you can attract and help them.

Ta da!

Discussion Questions:

1. How many babies did you have a the same time?
2. Does your ideal client have any money? No? Time to re-think that?
3. What is the most interesting stat you’ve uncovered in Google analytics?​