DEFINE YOUR TARGET MARKET: CREATE A SUCCESSFUL MARKETING STRATEGY

When you outline who your ideal customer base is, you can more accurately determine the potential of your campaign as well as focus your marketing strategy to cater to the right individuals.

This one step will determine the outcome of the rest of your campaign. Your messages should be tailor-made to address the needs of your most qualified potential customers using the right tone and language that gets their attention. It can be tempting to skip this step and try to cater to a large market, but limiting your focus is actually more profitable and cost effective in the long run.target-market

HOW TO DEFINE YOUR TARGET MARKET

Start by identifying the demographic and psychographic profiles of people who are most likely to use your products or need your services. These usually include basic characteristics such as: age, gender, income, occupation, family status, and hobbies. They can also be expanded to include marital status, political affiliations, ethnic groups, and other interests. Much of this information can be found through online databases, case studies, and your local Chamber of Commerce.

Map out the criteria and create a buyer’s persona of your ideal customer, the one who is the most likely to purchase. Be very specific when defining your customers’ characteristics so that you can focus all of your communication efforts on a very particular consumer base. This will be the foundation of all your marketing strategies.

LOOK AT THE NUMBERS

Once your initial research is complete, take a good look at the amount of people or businesses that fall into those parameters in your region. If that market is too small, you can extend your reach by opening up some of the categories to include more people, such as increasing the age range.

If you are running a business to business (B2B) campaign, you can define your ideal market by looking at certain business characteristics. Divide the market into categories such as: geographic locations, size, industry, and needs. Consider who you would most like as a client or customer and solely target that segment of the market.

CARVE OUT A NICHE

Another way to create a successful marketing strategy is to continue narrowing down your target market by specializing in a unique area within your industry. In a lot of ways this seems counter intuitive, but a small business can better develop a foothold in an industry by claiming a very particular area. Consider specialized products or services that will appeal to a narrow segment of customers or businesses.

CONTINUALLY DEFINE YOUR TARGET MARKET

Determining your target customer and niche is an ongoing process. As new information presents itself in the way of buying habits, industry trends, and successful campaigns, you have to continually readjust and refocus your efforts. Staying fresh and relevant is an important aspect of marketing. Continuing to monitor your marketing efforts will keep you profitable for years to come.

Defining your target market goes hand-in-hand with defining your brand. How will you know who you need to target if you don’t have a complete grasp of who you are? Click below.