Know Your Target Market
One major mistake of many personal branders is they try to win over everyone. Actually, it should be like playing darts: you must aim so you can hit the target. If you just throw your dart without aiming for anything, you will most likely not be recognized. If you manage to hit the board, you make a score. If you have a good aim, and your dart heads to the bull’s eye, that is even a lot better.
You must not think that your target audience is everyone because you must have a defined group to attract. That makes it easier for you to understand the specific niche you want to dominate.
If you understand your target market more, the more you can target them. While you gain more insight about your audience, you will begin to see a better conversion rate and improved ROI. These are the main metrics that all marketers should consider.
You are going to find here the ways you must do to define your target market so your business succeeds.
Do Not Think You Must Please Everybody
The strategy here is to focus. For instance, you want to start your own restaurant.
You can focus on pleasing customers who are 40 to 60 years who are already established in their careers. They are more concerned about eating healthy than buying low-quality food, likes poultry, seafood, and want a peaceful atmosphere.
Your other choice is to attract customers who are 20 to 35 years old who still limit their budget, likes loud places and cheap food. Some of them are also professionals but still young and have not quite established themselves.
Choosing any of the two is going to help you focus rather than trying to please everyone.
The importance of target marketing is to divide and conquer. The various groups of people do not have the same pain points and desires. A lot of times, making efforts to try pleasing everyone does not give good results because they end up not pleasing anyone at all.
Pick the Right Verticals
When you already have an idea of the group that could benefit from what you are offering, there are important factors you must analyze:
- Does your target audience have enough people who will patronize your business and support it?
- Do they have the capacity to purchase your product or service?
- What do they prioritize when it comes to spending? Is there something more important for them to buy than your product? Which one does not have the same importance?
- If you choose that market segment, do you have a lot of competitors already?
You must determine who you can sell for profit. Your product or service might have a lot of uses, but knowing who would rather spend on your than something else is what will help you. This is also very helpful in determining how much you must spend on marketing.
If you have enough sales information about your target market, make sure to make an analysis of those numbers as well. Evaluate and measure your target market verticals so you can decide where the opportunities are. You must also observe the purchasing patterns in the different groups. For instance, maybe your business succeeds in selling equipment to offices, but most of them buy them on sale. It could also be that they only use extra funds to spend on them. Can your business be supported by just thriving on those clients?
Know What the Lifestyle and Attitudes of Your Target Market
The lifestyles and attitudes of your target audience are important when you are determining the profile of your customer. Those who work have priorities in their lifestyle and time constraints that retired people are not concerned about. Is your target audience:
- Employed or are they already retired?
- What do they do for leisure? What hobbies do they have?
- What are their habits when it comes to shopping?
- What products do they like to buy?
- Where do they spend their vacation?
The internet is a bank of information that comes from different sources that provide you with updated market research. You will also know more about consumer trends from the internet.
Know Who Your Competitor is
When you already know who interacts with your business and pays for your products, it is time for you to study your competition.
While checking out your competition, there are questions you must answer: Does your competition go for the same market segment? Does your competition reach market segments that you have not considered? In what way do they position themselves?
You might not be able to get detailed research on the people who interact with your competitors, but you will know their general approach. This could also be whether they are able to create online engagement. This analysis helps you understand the markets they are aiming for, and if their efforts are effective.
Review Your Products or Services
While you search for ways on how to better reach your target market, it is very important to review the products and services of your business. To understand the best way to entice your new customers, it is crucial that you are aware of the ins and outs of the services you offer.
That means completely knowing everything about your products and what the customers are expecting to get. You must also understand what happens after the customer purchases your product or service. Are your customers happy? Did the customer service disappoint them? Knowing the current standing of your company when it comes to products and services help determine better marketing strategies to attract potential customers. This lets you easily figure out the kinds of people who will benefit from your product or service.
Consider Your Unique Identity
Your business is most likely a reflection of your personality and what you love doing, and what you are best at. It is an advantage to target people who are like you. If you prefer the feeling of being a small business compared to the corporate giants, then it is better for you to set the small business as a target market.
By being able to identify yourself with your target audience, you already have an idea of what they like. You could even have the same priorities when it comes to choosing products or services from a business.
Strategize
You must determine the right marketing strategy for your target audience. You must decide if you will focus on multi-segment marketing or niche marketing.
By using a marketing strategy for multi-segments, your team can identify the best handful of target markets where you can see growth opportunities. This strategy involves various marketing campaigns that attract different groups.
A/B testing tests to see which of the marketing efforts get most of the engagement from different customer groups. The biggest benefit of using this kind of strategy is being able to pivot to markets that are more profitable. You can quickly drop the efforts you put into those that do not respond.
Niche marketing is focused on the efforts you make to attract a certain group who will buy your products. When you target a market that is specific, small, and well-defined, you can be a big player in a small field. This way, you can use your business resources to understand what this group needs, and then attracting their attention.
Revisit the Market Research You Did When Necessary
The conclusion of your market research may give additional insight that you did not have after your first target market statement. Make sure that you incorporate the lessons you learned, revisit your statement regularly. You need to make sure that it still accurately targets your most important potential customers.
Remember that your target audience could change over time. For instance, your target market from the 1980s can still use your product up to now because you revised your product based on what they need today. This is what a lot of skincare companies do. They cater to teenagers and those who need anti-aging products.
Now you can easily create a marketing strategy that targets the specific audience you want so they will buy your product or service.
