Three years ago today Venus started in Tauranga. An idea I had to gather a group of businesswomen together to support them in growing their own businesses while contributing to the success of the community.

Venus has transformed over the past three years into a strong business network filled with passionate and committed business women throughout New Zealand. The community is seen by many as their ‘business family’.

The highlights over the past year for Venus have been:

• We have welcomed many new facilitators and assistant facilitators to our leadership team
• The Venus Management team has grown from myself at Venus HQ in Tauranga to now a team of 8 Regional Coordinators around New Zealand
• We have met some amazing, inspiring and bold businesswomen throughout the country
• Introduced our ‘Marketing Modules’ as meeting topics to help upskill our members in the areas of marketing and sales
• Our name has changed from Venus Clubs to The Venus Network
• Along with this we are very excited to introduce our new brand which we will believe is a relfection of the development the company has undergone over the last three years

With interest in Venus Australia we are looking to move into the global market and launch Venus offshore in the next 12 – 24 months. Exciting times ahead for Venus as we also strengthen our New Zealand community.

At the core of Venus is the sincere desire to support women to be successful in their own business.

We love what we do.

We love being part of your business journey.

Thanks for sharing it with us.

Vanessa
Venus HQ

Increase your Referrals: Choose a target market

A target or niche market is a group of people you choose to focus on marketing and selling your service or product to. You cannot hope to market your business to everyone, even if you think everyone needs you.
Why choose a target market?

Deciding on your target market lays a critical foundation for your business. When you get clear about who your target market is, you will:

• Get results from your marketing spend: By focussing on one or more niches you’re able to connect with these people at a much higher level.
• You will know where to focus your marketing efforts because you will know where your target market are, what they read, what they do, who they are in contact with.
• Receive more referrals: Club members and customers know exactly who to refer you to. You make it harder on yourself when you say you market to everyone. Your club members will not be out in the street talking to everyone about you. It just doesn’t happen. The more targeted your market, the more likely your club members can be on the lookout for your ideal client.
• Know where to focus your research efforts: You want to intimately understand your market: the problems they have and the language they speak. The greater your level of understanding the more magnetic you will become.
• Top choice for prospects: You are viewed as the only choice because your service is ‘designed’ to solve the specific problems of those people.

How to choose a target market
Analyse your customer base and group them into specific target markets. Decide on the profile of your ideal client. What sort of person are they? Decide on their demographics and psychographics.

Demographics: what is their age, gender, income, where are they located: local, national, international?

Psychographics: What are their characteristics, values, what motives them?
The clearer you are about who you want to do business with, the more you will attract exactly the referral you’re looking for.

9 Essential Criteria for Choosing your Target Market
Your target market will determine your income and success. Choose the wrong one and you will waste a lot of time and money with very little results. Whatever target market —TM— you choose, check to see that it meets the following 10 essential criteria:

1. Your TM has a big problem.
They think about it all the time, it keeps them awake at night.

2. Your TM wants the problem solved.
The impact and cost of the problem is big enough that they will act to solve it (some people have problems they are quite happy to live with!).

3. You can easily find your TM.
Do they belong to associations? Are there conferences for this target market? Are there publications? Where do they hangout? If it’s not easy to find your target market, it will cost you a lot of money to find them.

4. Your TM has money to spend.
No point having a terrific service if your target market hasn’t the money to pay for it. I know this sounds basic but it’s often overlooked.

5. Your TM has a history of paying to have this problem solved.
You want to focus on a target market where there is a proven track record of problems and people paying to solve them. A good sign is if your competitors are selling similar services to the target market.

6. There’s enough of your TM out there to sustain a business.
How many people or businesses are in your target market? Realistically how many will become your clients and what will that be worth to you? Is that enough?

7. You enjoy working with your TM.
Think about what types of people are in your target market and visualize being with them day in and day out. How does that feel? Will you feel energized or drained at the end of the day? Remember, you are also in business to enjoy yourself so make sure you will enjoy working with this target market.

8. You have a passion for helping and serving this TM.
Passion is an essential ingredient for selling your services.

9. You have valuable expertise and experience you can offer.
Your target market will want to buy from people who are experts in their field. Think about what specific expertise and experience you can offer your target market.

If you have any questions or comments about choosing your target market please do email me.

I believe one of the reasons the Venus Clubs are successful is that we have chosen a very clear niche market, two in fact. Women solo entrepreneurs, mostly with home based offices and small business owners (including franchise owners) – both these groups have been in business less than 5 years, are committed to growing their business, they want to be part of a community of likeminded women and they want to contribute to the success of other businesswomen.
Love your work,

Vanessa Davey
CEO
Venus Clubs

Vanessa@venusclubs.co.nz
0275 696 963