Do you know who your true target market really is?
Do you know who your ideal target market is?
Do you know how to determine your target audience segments?
Do you know the most effective ways to engage with them?
Most businesses probably will not be able to answer the above questions easily and find the whole concept of ‘target market’ overwhelming and ambiguous. The following article will break it down and provide you with some top tips to help you hit your marketing bull’s eye through effective targeting.
Who is your true target?
If you were to describe your current average customer versus your ideal future customer, chances are they will significantly differ.
Intimately understanding your true target market is instrumental in enabling you to effectively develop your marketing plan and gain clarity on who and how to target in order to hit your business bullseye.
One of the first things to ask yourself is, ‘who is my ideal customer or client’, if like many business owners you can’t answer this immediately, then now is the time to think about it and figure it out before you go any further.
In marketing if you have no target it’s not like the motivational saying of “shoot for the moon if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” It just doesn’t work that way in business. You’ll be shooting into the black abyss of space-where no one exists.
Hot tips to help you determine and connect with your true target market:
Find the perfect match
Identify what you are offering and ensure it is fulfilling a specific need and look around at whom you think would be a perfect fit for your product or service.
Break it down into graphics
The “who”: Demographic: Who specifically needs your product or service? Investigate basic demographic details such as age, gender, family size, educational level and occupation.
The “where”: Geographic: Where are your customers located? What’s their postcode, the size of the area, its population density, and its climate etc.?
The “why”: Psychographics: Why do your customers make the choices they make? This is personality and lifestyle information that will help you figure out your customers’ buying patterns, e.g. what are their hobbies and interests.
Why you?
Identify why customers choose you over your competitors, what is your unique selling proposition (USP), how are you genuinely differentiating yourself in the marketplace. Ask them why? Conduct surveys and gain insightful feedback directly from your customers, don’t make assumptions. Complete clarity and confidence in communicating why customers should choose you is critical.
Research is gold
It is important to know your marketplace and your customers intimately, take the time to research who and what is out there.
Don’t try to be all things to all people
Don’t be afraid to specialise, finding your true niche allows you to do less but do it better. Focus on your primary market.
You can use target marketing to carve out your own space in the marketplace.
Avoid blanketing
If you try to blanket everyone using one marketing message and strategy you’ll lose over half of your audience simply because it doesn’t apply to them.
Planning for success
Once you know who it is you’re going after then you can begin to design a plan around how you will market to them so they can see you, become aware of who you are and get to know and like you so they will be comfortable buying from you.
It’s a win/win for you and your business- save money and time
By targeting effectively you won’t have to invest so much into your marketing to get the results you desire. You will also be more focused and more efficient in your marketing strategies and be able to get a greater return on your marketing investment.
Hit your marketing bull’s eye today.
