As a business owner, you want to ensure your product or service is accessible to everyone, right? After all, the more customers, the better! While it sounds good in theory, trying to please everyone is impossible, not to mention expensive, and can yield poor results.
With this in mind, let’s explore why identifying your target market is so critical for marketing success and how you can do it to boost your marketing performance.
It improves your marketing message
Identifying your target market helps you define the audience you are targeting. It requires you to know who is most interested in your product or service and, more importantly, who isn’t. It should go beyond the usual demographics of gender, age, income, and location to also explore your target market’s needs, wants, frustrations, motivations, and habits.
When you understand your target market, you can make your marketing message more specific. When you make your marketing message more specific, you can speak directly to their needs, wants and frustrations to build relevance and urgency to make your marketing more effective.
It saves money on marketing and advertising
By narrowing down your audience, you won’t waste your resources on people who aren’t interested in your product or service or platforms your audience won’t be found on and your marketing budget is used more efficiently to get greater results.
It gives you a competitive advantage
Identifying your target market is the fastest way to find your competitive advantage (unique value proposition). In a crowded market, where customers are bombarded with choices, becoming an expert in a specific area or niche can establish your business as a trusted source, making it easier for your customers to choose you over competitors offering a broader range of products and services.
It increases brand loyalty
By addressing the frustrations and meeting the needs of your target market, you create a win/win relationship with your customers. When you’ve provided significant value or solved a pressing problem, customers are more likely to remain loyal, buying from you again and more likely to share their positive experience with others and recommend your business to those they know will benefit.
It helps you make informed business decisions
By understanding their needs and wants, you can avoid investing resources into the wrong solutions and instead tailor your product and service offerings to suit your target market’s interests. It can also inform your brand positioning, pricing, and how to best communicate with your customers through the sales process.
Six questions to ask to identify your target market.
Now that we’ve looked at why you should define your target market, let’s delve into how you can identify them. To help, here are six questions that will enable you to gain valuable insights into your target market and create a winning marketing strategy that resonates with them.
- Who are your current customers? What are their demographics? What do they have in common? Are they the type of people you want to keep working with?
- What problem does your product or service solve for your customers?
- Who are your competitors targeting?
- What are your customers looking for? What do they want and need from your product or service? What are their pain points and frustrations?
- Where do your customers spend their time? What do they do online and offline?
- What are your customers’ buying habits? How much research will they likely do before buying? Will they shop online or offline? Do they have a preference to buy local? Do they want to buy from small businesses or a larger business?
Whether you’re a start-up business or a seasoned entrepreneur, defining your audience will help you make more informed and strategic business decisions and plan more effective and efficient marketing.
