The #1 Tip to Boost Instagram Sales
If you're struggling to create content that converts—whether that’s into followers, email subscribers, leads, or sales—it’s likely that it’s time to do some Target Market Research!
Today, I'm sharing the one essential strategy that could be the missing piece in your marketing puzzle, not just for Instagram, but for any platform where you're promoting your business.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
[02:15] - The Importance of Target Market Research
Discover why understanding your ideal client inside and out is crucial for creating content that resonates and converts.
[05:10] - How to Conduct Target Market Research
I’ll walk you through five simple and effective methods for gathering insights about your audience, including:
[06:00] - Interviewing past clients to understand their transformation and what drew them to you.
[08:15] - Leveraging AI tools like ChatGPT for demographic insights and content ideas.
[10:30] - Using Google to uncover the most common questions and pain points in your niche.
[12:20] - Reading comments on popular posts within your industry to see what people are really asking.
[14:05] - Utilizing free tools like Answer the Public to discover trending questions in your niche.
[16:45] - Why This Matters
Understanding your audience’s desires, struggles, and goals allows you to create content that speaks directly to them. This kind of content doesn't just get seen—it gets remembered, shared, and acted upon.
[21:45] - Actionable Takeaways
Start your target market research today by interviewing three to five of your favorite past clients. Use the insights to create more targeted and effective content.
Explore AI tools like ChatGPT to streamline your research process and get tailored content ideas.
Always be curious—use Google, social media comments, and tools like Answer the Public to continuously learn more about your audience.
Links mentioned in this episode…
REELS FOR BUSINESS 3 DAY WORKSHOP REPLAY: If you missed my recent live workshop on creating Instagram Reels, don’t worry! You can still get access to the replay. REGISTER HERE AND WE’LL EMAIL YOU THE REPLAY FROM ALL 3 DAYS!,
Want to dive deeper into using AI for marketing? Check out my four-part mini-series and my interview with AI coach Juan Galan, one of the most popular episodes to date!
JOIN HOT REELS: The 12-Month Instagram Content Lab
An intimate, strategy-packed mentorship for established business owners ready to create killer content that stops the scroll, grows your following and attracts your dreamboat clients (even if you have no idea what to post and feel like you’re always throwing spaghetti at the wall!)
FREE guide to Monetize Your IG: Seven Simple and Proven Ways to Finally Make Money on Instagram
Apply for your FREE Instagram Breakthrough Call with Elizabeth
Quote
[05:30] "Understanding your ideal client’s deepest desires and obstacles is the key to creating content that truly resonates and converts."
TRANSCRIPT
S3 Ep28 - The #1 Tip to Boost Instagram Sales
00:00
If you're struggling with creating content that converts, and I mean converts into followers, email subscribers, leads, or even sales, it's likely you need to do this one thing I'm gonna teach you today. I cannot wait to share this with you because it's going to change the game for when you market your business, not only on Instagram, but anywhere you show up.
00:23
your emails, your website, Facebook, LinkedIn, wherever you're promoting and talking about your products and services, this one thing might be the missing piece in your marketing strategy. Are you ready? Let's go. Welcome to Strut It, a podcast about creating bold visibility on social media with zero apologies.
00:45
I'm Elizabeth Marberry, your host and Instagram marketing coach. I help small business owners get seen on Instagram and monetize their offers so they can make more money doing their sole lead work. If you're tired of spinning your wheels on Instagram and you're seeking simple, proven Instagram marketing strategies that actually work, you're in the right place. Let's dive in.
01:17
Welcome back to the show. I'm super honored that you are investing your time and energy with me today. I am super excited because today is September and it's my birthday month. I'm super pumped. I am turning 44 years old this year and I'm excited. I'm excited about it. I feel honestly like the older I get.
01:43
the more I just get to know myself, the more I can feel rooted in who I am. And I know it sounds cliche, but I feel wiser. So thank you for being with me. Send me a DM on Instagram, let me know when your birthday is. I tend to like connect with a lot of people who are born in September. I always find it kind of fascinating. My husband is actually born in September as well. We're nine days apart. He's nine days older, so he's grandpa. But anyways.
02:12
I'm super excited for my birthday this month and I'm super excited because I actually just finished delivering a live training on the foundations of how to create a reel for people who are like, did I miss the reel train, like the Instagram reel train? Like how the heck do I create a reel? Or maybe you just know the basics but you're not really confident in how to actually create reels in the Instagram app, which is totally what I recommend. I usually either.
02:41
I create them in the app or I use CapCut, but honestly, 95% of the time I just create within Instagram, it's so easy. And I just did a whole training on it. If you want access to the replay, send me a direct message on Instagram and say, workshop. This was day one of a three-day workshop, but I will be selling the replay because this is gold and Reels have been a game changer for my business. And if you're not leveraging them, what the heck are you doing? Okay, no excuses.
03:10
So today we are going to talk about my number one tip to boost your Instagram sales. And it may not be what you think. You may be thinking it's, you know, better hooks or better calls to action or trending audio or whatever the tricks are that the Instagram gurus are teaching you. But the tip I'm going to share with you is one of those kind of unsexy parts of being a
03:39
building your own personal brand or whatever it is that you are creating. And that is target market research, okay? So I hear from so many business owners where they're like, Elizabeth, I don't know what to post about. Like, I don't know what content to create. If that is a question you're asking yourself, you also are probably struggling with, what do I email my list? Like, what would I even say to them?
04:07
or what would I even post about on LinkedIn? I see people being thought leaders on LinkedIn. How the heck am I supposed to show up? If you are having that issue of what do I talk about, you absolutely need to be doing target market research. And it is crucial that you know your number one job as a business owner is to know your ideal dreamboat client, like inside and.
04:36
out, like as if you could crawl inside their brain. I know that's really gross, but I like to think of it that way because so many times the mistakes I see, especially on Instagram, is a lot of me content where you're like, look at me, look at my products, look at my service, aren't I so great? And okay, there's a time and place for that, but 80%, maybe 90% of your content should be all about your ideal client or customer.
05:05
And you can only do that. You can only create content for them and from their perspective if you have a deep understanding of who they are, okay? So once you discover what your ideal clients or customers actually want and what's stopping them from getting it, like what's in their way, what's their roadblock, and then what they actually desire, because yeah, maybe they want a picture frame.
05:34
for their husband, but what they actually desire is a deeper, deeper connection with their husband through this customized gift, right? Like that's different. So once you can identify like what do they actually desire, you will have a treasure trove of content ideas and not only content ideas, but you will see that your content will start to activate and resonate with your ideal.
06:03
clients and that my friend when they feel activated is when they will take action. Okay. That's when they will give you the follow. That's when they'll opt into your email list with your freebie or they'll send you a direct message and say, Hey, can I book a free consult with you? I love your vibe. I love your personality. I'd love to talk more. Right. So how do you do target market research? There are so many different ways of doing it. But today I have five.
06:32
quick and easy ways that you can perform some target market research. Are you ready? Number one by far is my favorite and that is interview past clients. And not just any past clients, like not the past clients that you're just like, eh, like they were okay. I'm talking about those past clients or customers that you're like, I love Sally. If I could have 10 more Sallys, I would just be so thrilled, okay? So who is your Sally? Who is that person?
07:01
that you were like, oh my gosh, I just loved working with them, or maybe you're selling a product and they just made it so easy. It was just a no-brainer. Yes, they wrote you a five-star review. They are shouting your praises on social media or whatever it is. Who are your people that you're just like, can I get like a thousand more of you? Can I just package you up? Okay? So I want you to think of anywhere from three to five past clients. Now I know this feels like a really big project. In fact,
07:31
This is some of the work that I'm doing inside my 12 month Instagram content lab with my clients because it is a really big project and this takes effort. If having a business was easy and growing a business was easy, everyone would do it, right? This is the work, but this way of doing it, interviewing past clients is my favorite way because I love connecting with people and I love connecting with people and I love being in response. So,
07:59
That is me, that is my game. If you hate this way, don't worry, I have four other ways that you can use. But I highly recommend that you sit down and you have some conversations with your past clients. Now, what do you say? What do you ask them? There's a lot that goes into this, but I'm just gonna give you a super high level. We go much more into depth in my program. So if you're interested in learning more about that, send me a message on Instagram at Elizabeth Marbury, and we will chat more about your particular business.
08:28
But essentially what you wanna ask them is, why did you hire me? What were you struggling with at that time? Or what were you seeking? Or what were you yearning for? Why did you wanna come work with me? So A, you're figuring out what is your it factor? Why you? What was it about you? And then B, what were they struggling with? What was the thing that they wanted? The next thing I want you to ask them is, what did they experience?
08:57
as a transformation of your service or product. Like, I want you to start to paint this picture of who they were before they had your product or service and who they were after. Because in your marketing, you want to paint that transformation, right? You want to tell the story. How do you tell stories? You listen to your customers. They will tell you their story, yes? So why they hired you, what were they struggling with at the time, and what were they wanting?
09:27
What was their transformation story? Like what did they experience? And then what was their desire? Like what did they want? And what was their end result? Like what did they get? And sometimes their end result could be exactly what they desired and it could also be something that they didn't even realize they needed. Like that happens so much with my clients where people come into work with me and they think, I just wanna become an influencer on Instagram. Like that looks like so much fun, Elizabeth.
09:56
and they come in, they're like, I want 10,000 followers and I want all of this. And what we realize is they've been battling with visibility blocks. They say that they want that, but they're shutting themselves down. They have this voice in their head that says, I'm not good enough. Do I actually want to be seen? And so a lot of the work I do with my clients is helping them bust through those visibility blocks so they can feel more confident in showing up consistently and allowing themselves.
10:24
their most authentic selves to take up space. So that's a great example that they came to me with a very specific desire. I wanna grow my following. And they left knowing themselves better and feeling more confident and embodied in who they are and their worth as a person. Like how awesome is that? And of course, helping them with their Instagram. But that's just the cherry on top.
10:48
The second way you can do target market research is using AI and ChatGBT or Google Gemini are great resources for this. If that is peaking your interest, I recommend that you go back. I did a whole four part mini series on how to use AI in your marketing and absolutely go binge on that series. If you're like, ooh, yes, I wanna use ChatGBT to do target market research. We talk a lot about that. And it's all about
11:18
It's all about creating really effective prompts so the outputs you get are very tailored and specific to your niche, to your brand. And it can help you do that research and provide you a demographic of exactly who it is that you're talking to. It can give you a list of their top 10 pain points, their top 10 desires, what they want, the questions they're asking. So definitely go back and binge on that four part.
11:46
miniseries and also check out my interview with Juan Galan. He is my AI coach and that episode, I think is one of my most popular episodes at this point. It is full of so much value. So if you're like, oh, I want to use chat GBT to do this, then go listen to those episodes. But that is a great way to also do some target market research. The third way is good old fashioned Google, like type in what you do into Google.
12:13
and see what comes up, see what the top search results are. And you'll see that on Google, there's like a list of questions, similar questions that people ask around that niche. So right there, that will give you an idea of what are people asking about, right? Because creating content that really serves a need in the market is huge. And again, if you can solve a small problem for me on Instagram, I'm much more likely to give you that follow.
12:42
binge on your content, I'm like, oh, she's an authority in her space. I like her. Oh my gosh, she just launched a course. I'm gonna go buy it, right? Like that's just how it works. So Google is such a great resource to just see, I like to look at like page one, page two, see what's coming up, see the questions people are asking and what's being talked about. And that's a great way to do some research. The fourth way of doing target market research is to read the comments on popular posts.
13:09
from other people in your niche. So I don't wanna call them competitors because I'm all about like collaboration over competition. But for example, in my industry as an Instagram marketing mentor, social media marketing mentor, of course there's so many of them on Instagram and the ones that are doing really well, what I can do is I can go in and look at their comments and see what questions are they being asked? What are people saying? Because in these comments, they're saying,
13:39
I'm still confused about this. So reading people's comments on popular posts within your industry is a great way to do target market research. And you could do that on Instagram, you could do it on LinkedIn, you could do it on Facebook. You're not limited to one platform on this. In fact, TikTok is a great place to go search. So wherever you feel confident where you're like, ooh, I know how to navigate this platform, do a little digging in there and you'll be amazed at what you will find.
14:06
And the fifth and final way that I suggest you do some target market research is you leverage a free platform called Answer the Public. And what that is, it's a free listening tool that helps you discover what people are asking about in your niche. So you can go in, and I think it's only free for the first three searches you do or something like that per day.
14:30
So I know there's a limit on it, and then they have like a paid plan you can do with unlimited searches. But essentially you go in there and you can type in your niche, and then they will tell you what people are asking about it. It can be a really valuable resource to kind of climb into the brains of your ideal client, see what questions they're having, see what they're struggling with, their desires. Because again, the more you know their pain points and really,
15:00
what they're struggling with, you can start to paint, not only naming that, like, I see your struggle, I see your pain, because that's step one, we wanna feel seen. But step two is, your product or service is a solution for them, and you can help them. And how motivating is that? Every time I think about I could help someone, it really motivates me to create more content. So to me, it's a full circle experience, and I promise you,
15:28
If you take some time and invest in target market research, not only will content creation feel easier, you'll never run out of content ideas again, and your content will convert. You will get the follows. You will be able to get more people on your email list, assuming you have a strategy for that, which is a whole nother episode, and if you want my support with that, you know where to find me on Instagram.
15:57
but you're here to make sales, right? If you have a business, you have a brand, you have a side hustle, ultimately you wanna make sales and you wanna work with your dream people. So the first step is really get to know them, write down all that information and then start to create and speak to them from that place. I hope you got so much value out of today's episode. If you did, I have a huge favor to ask. Will you just pause and write a review for this show?
16:27
I cannot tell you how much, first of all, personally, it makes my day when I see a review. Truly, I read each and every one and it helps me to keep going. It helps us with the podcast algorithm. It helps the algorithm gods to put my podcast in front of more ambitious business owners like yourself. Please consider reading, reviewing, and of course, if you haven't followed or subscribed to the show yet, please do that.
16:56
Also, I would love, love, love if you know another business owner or someone growing a personal brand, someone selling a service or a product who is struggling with Instagram or social media marketing, please send them my way. Share this episode. Let's share the love, my friends. Collaboration over competition. I'm so happy that you have spent this time with me today.
17:20
I cannot wait to see what you create on the socials. Don't forget to tag me so I can cheer you on and I will see you back here next week. Thank you for listening to Strut It. If you're ready to start leveraging Instagram to grow your business, then you're gonna wanna grab my free monetize your IG guide.
17:40
where you'll learn seven simple and proven ways to finally make money on Instagram. You can grab your guide at ElizabethMarberry.com slash freebies. That's ElizabethMarbury.com slash freebies to get my monetize your IG guide. If you got some incredible value from today's episode, be sure to leave a review and subscribe on your favorite podcast platforms. And I cannot wait to start it with you again next week.