A step-by-step guide to defining your target market

On February 27, 2018

Defining your target market is the most important part of working out your marketing strategy. By doing so, you can ensure your marketing campaigns are reaching the people who will actually want to buy your product. You'll be able to do this via the right channels and through the correct medium.

However it can be a little difficult to work out your main audience, especially if you're a new business and don't have any customers yet. How can you define your target market?

1) Think about the problem you are seeking to solve

Your product or service exists to solve a particular problem. So the first step to working out your target market is to ensure you know exactly what this problem is. You then need to write out all the people who might suffer from this problem. Consider:

  • Age, gender and location
  • Family – are they married? Do they have kids?
  • Income and occupation
  • Psychographics – How do they think? What are their attitudes and values? What do they like and dislike?
  • Behaviour – especially that related to marketing. For example, how do they consume media? Printed or digital? Do they use their mobile phones? What websites do they go on?
You should take into account psychographics such as your customers' values and attitudes when defining your target market.
How do your customers think? What are their values? It's important to consider all this when defining your target market.

2) Choose the person who suffers the most

Once you've listed all the people who suffer from the problem, you need to work out which one suffers the most. It's particularly important that the cost of not sorting this problem is higher than the cost of doing so via your product or service. 

3) Take into account your own experience

While you're making your decision, you should also take into account your own area of expertise. Do you know the market well in a particular location, for example? Or do you have experience marketing towards a particular occupation or business? Any knowledge like this will make it much easier to work out the best way of reaching your audience. 

4) Consider how they will interact with your marketing

It's all well and good choosing the best person to market to, but this won't matter if you choose the wrong channels to reach them through. If your audience is made up of mainly millennials, you'll want to consider marketing to them via emails and online channels. You'll also probably want to look at making your marketing mobile-friendly. On the other hand, printed media often works best for retired and older customers. 

Email and direct mail campaigns are a great way to leave a lasting impression on your target audience. The Prospect Shop can provide you with a range of B2C and B2B mailing lists, as well as advice on creating the best direct marketing campaign. Contact us today for more information.

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