Selecting a Target Market

Source: Target Market

Now that I have determined how a company can achieve its competitive advantage, how do marketers select a target market?

According to an article on Inc.com,a business industry magazine, "no one can afford to target everyone" and knowing the demographics, psychology and geography of your target audience can make marketing campaigns more successful. 

The article raises an interesting question by saying target markets like "small business owners", "homeowners", or "stay at home moms" are much too broad. You must dig a little deeper to determine who exactly will be buying your products, for example, stay at home moms who are in their 30s and are physically active. Although you are zeroing in on a target market, this does not mean you must "exclude" others that don't fit the bill. Rather it's just wise to focus a majority of your money and time into marketing to these specific people. The article says that you must consider who your competitors are targeting. 

I talked about in my earlier blog posts how companies can compare themselves to others to find their competitive advantage, and in this case, learning who your competitors are targeting could be a good starting point. Evaluating your "customer base" is a must because that will show who is buying the most of your product. A popular quote is "if it ain't broke don't fix it," so determine what is attracting those people to buy your product and devote more time into that target market. Making a list of your products and then weighing its benefits for customers does a good job of narrowing in what you must do to reach your particular target market.

Another way to determine a target market are evaluating demographics, psychographics, and geographics. 

• Demographics include "age, income level, gender, occupation". These are important to have simply because these define the background of your target market. 
• Psychographics include things like "personality, traits, values, ideas/beliefs". It is important to relate with your customers on a mental level because if you are a good marketer you should be able to think what they are thinking about your product. You want to relate to them and their thought process as much as possible. 
• Geographics are things like "location" and what part of the country you live in. This can determine how you go about marketing your product. Another big thing is that you have to make sure that your product is priced in a way that not only can the market afford it but will it be an attractive price for that market. Above all, you must have "enough people to fit the criteria" of what your target market is, and it must be an "easily accessible" market if you are going to devote time and energy.

In addition to finding your competitive advantage and selecting a target market, how do changes in the economy affect marketing strategies?