Let’s first talk about the difference between target audience and target market. A target market is a set of consumers that a company plans to sell or reach with marketing activities where a target audience is the group or segment within that target market that is being served ads (Marketing Evolution). In this article we will focus on the target market and how your brand can identify yours. Target market is important for businesses in order to be more efficient on targeting specific groups instead of mass marketing to those who may have no interest. It also builds interest in the brand, loyalty and create a higher potential growth of sales. Here are some tips to start finding your brand’s target market.
1. Determine what needs your product fills. Analyze your product. Who would buy this product and why? This will help you determine the bullet listed in number 4. Let’s look at an example. Your brand sells home good appliances. Your market then would be older adults who own home or rent.
2. Collect data. Conduct market research. You can do your own research by drawing on existing data, looking at your own network, or gathering from metrics (Forbes). You can collect data using surveys, focus groups and in person talks and/or observations.
3. Look at your competition. Conduct a competitor analysis. You can do this by looking at their business background. Where are they located and what type of facilities do they have? Look at their products. How’s the quality? What are they missing that you can offer? Look at their social media and take notes. What are their sales strategies? For more information on how to do this visit this LINK.
4. Choose demographics & physiographics. Demographics are very important in determining your market as stated above. These include age, location, gender, income, education level, marital status, occupation, and ethnicities. And we’ve all heard of demographics but what are physiographics? These are attributes such as personality, values, lifestyle, interests, attitudes, and hobbies or your target market. All of these combined will help create a complete picture of who you will be selling your products to and how to properly market to them.
Finding your brand’s target market will take some work if you’re a new business breaking into a field. The benefits outweigh the time spent on this research and development toward finding your niche market. Funneling your brand’s audience will assist in being more efficient with time and resources spent on marketing to the correct audience. An audience who is interested in your product will create more sales and overall brand loyalties. Even if you’re a company that has been in business for a while, it’s always good to reassess your target market as trends tend to shift over time.
