Peter Wallhead

How to Define Your Target Market

2012-06-26T18:04:00.001+10:00

Some businesses I have talked to in the recent past can not define their target market simply and quickly, and these business have been operating for many years but are just now feeling the pinch. As a web marketer this revelation is really disturbing to me because if you don’t know your target market then how can you possible focus your time, resources and marketing budget on the correct market area? The simple answer is, you can’t.

To run any sort of marketing campaign, be it in the traditional sense by running advertisements in the newspaper or on television, or using an online medium such as social media (Facebook and/or Twitter), you need to know who your target market is for your brand or product.

To help you define your target market before you begin any new marketing campaign you should work through the questions below and add your answers into your existing marketing plan.

Look at Your Current Customer Base
- What have they bought from you? (keep a record of your most popular products or services)
- Why did they come to you? (ask your customers, their feedback is critical)
- Which customers bring in the most business?
- Do these frequent customers have any common characteristics and/or interests? See Demographics below.

Check Out Your Competition
- Who are your competitors targeting?
- Who are their current customers?
- Is there a niche market that your competition has overlooked?

Analyze Your Product/Service
List each feature of your most popular product or service. Next to each feature, list the benefits they provide (and the benefits of those benefits). For example, a cafe offers not only great coffee, but also free WIFI and the resulting benefit is their customers will spend more time in their cafe. The longer their customers sit in their cafe, then the more coffee and food they will buy which will lead to greater returns for the cafe owner.

Once you have your benefits listed, make a list of people who have a need that your benefit fulfills. For example, a cafe could choose to target Gen-Y creative professionals that love great coffee and anything free.

Choose Specific Demographics to Target
Figure out not only who has a need for your product or service, but also who is most likely to buy it. Think about the following factors:

Age
Location
Gender
Income level
Education level
Marital or family status
Occupation
Ethnic background

Once you have answered all the above questions you should be able to define your target market in a similar way to the following example:

My cafe’s target market is creative professionals between the ages of 20-40 with a large disposable income in the greater Hobart, Tasmania region.

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If you need some more help to define your target market then please contact Wallhead Web or email peter@wallheadweb.com directly.

The Peter Wallhead Award for Innovation in Science and Technology 2011

2011-12-20T11:23:00.001+11:00

On Tuesday the 13 December 2011 I had the pleasure of once again attending the Woodbridge School (my old school) Presentation Evening to present my annual Award for Innovation in Science and Technology to a student from year 9 or 10 that excelled in science during the year.

This year's award recipient was Grade 10 student Frank Stokely for his outstanding motivation and creativity within the science lab. I asked his science teacher, David Higgins, to give a brief summary of Frank's work over the past year:

Frank has been an amazingly motivated and creative researcher this year. He finds things that interest him on the net, thinks of how he can conduct an experiment or create something and resources his own efforts for the most part.

This year frank created an air cannon using pvc fittings and our compressor, a Rubens Tube to demonstrate sound wavelength, assisted in the design of a small solid fuel rocket that did not get completed this year, though a lot of work was done on getting the electric ignition to work.

Frank designed spring shoes but realized our lab facilities were inadequate and because of his sensible mature approach I allowed him a short experiment using Chinese drip water torture on himself (he could not believe it could work and really wanted to disprove it) He lasted 20 minutes before he realized it was actually not a joke and is a serious technique.

At the end of the year frank began working on a ball bearing race to demonstrate gravitational acceleration, and make the ball do tricks on the way down. Frank assisted other students with their projects on many occasions, and I have a feeling there are some small projects he did that I am forgetting.

Frank is the sort of kid that might actually come up with a novel invention one day and actually make it.

Congratulations again Frank!

(And thank you David for the overview.)

Jobric.com launched in beta

2011-12-17T08:46:00.001+11:00

Yesterday I beta launched Jobric.com (taking the search out of job search), a new job search site designed to help job seekers find jobs which match their resume and expertise faster.

Having pressed the big shiny red GO button at midday the site promptly broke (as is always the case), so I did some seeking of my own and found Chris Neugebauer who's logically problem solving helped me get the site up and running by 12.13pm. Thanks again Chris!

@startuptasmania "A very relieved @peterwallhead with @jobricapp now launched and ready for testing"

A huge thanks to Polly McGee (for giving me that extra push), the rest of the Startup Tasmania crew (for the coworking space, support and time) and the Secret Lab guys (for your continued support and for rocking up yesterday for the launch). A special thank you to Amy Young from Career Strategies Tasmania for believing in my idea and to Kirsty Dunphey for the site's very first job listing.

Baby Teresa Hobart Launch

2009-09-23T09:43:00.007+10:00

Any business that has a cup cake in their show bags at their business opening becomes an instant favourite of mine. So I would recommend that everybody checks out Baby Teresa as they have the simplest business concept:

"Baby Teresa gives you an opportunity to Buy Once, Share Twice. When you purchase a Baby Teresa onesie, the baby you purchase it for gets a gorgeous outfit and so does another baby, one you don't know but one in need. That other baby could be anywhere in the world from an orphanage in Vietnam, a small village in Africa or a family in need in Australia. Baby Teresa allows you to feel twice as good about the one gift."

Their website is: http://baby-teresa.com and onesies can be purchased from Funky Homes, 149A Liverpool Street, Hobart (map)

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PRESS RELEASE - Wallhead Multimedia celebrates 1 year anniversary

2009-03-10T11:43:00.002+11:00

Today Wallhead Multimedia (http://www.wallheadmultimedia.com) celebrates 1 year in operation. Started on the 10th March 2008 by Peter Wallhead, Wallhead Multimedia has worked with a number of iconic websites over the past year including RedBunnySays (http://redbunnysays.com) and has become a proud sponsor of the Raptor & Wildlife Refuge of Tasmania (http://www.raptorrefuge.com.au). Wallhead Multimedia continues to support other community enterprises including Robotics Tasmania and the Tasmanian Model Solar Car Challenge.

Wallhead Multimedia offers a low cost alternative for individuals and businesses looking to start a new website or to expand their existing website’s functionality. Wallhead Multimedia has increased their services over the past year to include translation services, graphic design work and social marketing consulting to enable clients to interact with a wider customer market via the online social networking sites Twitter and Facebook.

Wallhead Multimedia wishes to warmly thank all it’s existing clients that have supported them over the past year and looks forward to continuing to offer fantastic services to the Tasmanian community.

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About Wallhead Multimedia

Wallhead Multimedia is operated by Peter Wallhead from Mt Nelson, Tasmania. Peter Wallhead currently holds a Certificate IV in Business (Small Business Management) and has over 4 years web design and graphic design experience.

For more information about Wallhead Multimedia please see: http://www.wallheadmultimedia.com

For details about Peter Wallhead see: http://peterwallhead.com

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10 Simple Ways To Save Money In Your Business

2008-07-14T12:11:00.003+10:00

Original published by Kirsty Dunphey here

1. Throw out those fancy pink duplicate phone message pads that everyone loved so much (in the ‘80s) and email phone messages through your organisation.

2. Don’t mail out tax invoices – email them. Why pay for printing, paper, a stamp and an envelope when you can just mail the invoice?

3. Set up a blog with an RSS feed as the memo board for your staff, if this sounds too techie – set up a facebook fan page and do the same thing.

4. Ban overseas phone calls and have everyone use skype instead. If it’s a business call it’s probable that whoever they’re calling is going to have skype anyway.

5. Throw away your cheque book (well as much as you can). Pay everything by credit card or direct deposit (save the stamp, envelope and time).

6. Teach your staff the difference between using express / overnight delivery envelopes just ‘cos they’re fun and pretty and actually needing to. Also teach them that when sending a letter in the same post code – it’ll get there tomorrow anyway!

7. If you send out a printed newsletter – stop! C’mon who doesn’t have email these days – it’s cheaper and you’re killing less trees.

Ways to spend money that’ll still save you money in the long term

8. Subsidise staff member’s gym memberships. Healthier, fitter staff have less sick days. If you were to subsidise $100 from an annual gym membership and it results in 2 less sick days a year – you’re way in front.

9. Get rid of the charity choccies and biscuits (sorry!) and have fresh fruit available for your staff to munch on. See point eight about healthy staff being better staff.

10. Get a decent coffee machine in your office. 3 trips to the Starbucks a day ‘aint cheap (on your business – forget about on their pockets). If your staff are gone for 15 minutes a time for each coffee break, that’s 45 minutes a day more productive they could be if the coffee were easier to get to. Also (considering my rant on health), get a water cooler and make it much easier to get to than the coffee pot.

Kirsty Dunphey is an author, speaker and entrepreneur who started her first business at 15, opened her own real estate agency at 21 and retired a self made multi-millionaire at 27. To sign up to Kirsty Dunphey's weekly email, go to www.kirstydunphey.com

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Retired At 27 - Kirsty Dunphey

2008-07-10T16:27:00.011+10:00

Today I finally got around to buying a copy of Kirsty Dunphey's book Retired At 27.

Kirsty is a self-made millionaire from Launcestion, Tasmania and writes not only from her experience, but from her heart as well. I'm about halfway through her book so far and I'm enjoying every word. Unfortunately I tend to skim read a lot, so after I finish I'm going to re-read it again slowly, just in case I missed anything.

Kirsty's book is available from her website: http://www.unleashedknowledge.com/retired.html, via Amazon or from Dymocks, where I bought my copy from.

As a side note, because Kirsty is probably wondering why I bought her book from Dymocks instead of from her website; Dymocks price (with $2.50 discount): $22.45 (AUD), Kirsty's price: $28.45 (package includes a signed copy of Retired At 27, "a few extra goodies" and postage). I'm always looking for a bargain ;)

*Image courtesy: http://www.unleashedknowledge.com/

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