What is your target market? What is your target market? Why do you need a target market?

If you don’t have extremely specific answers to these questions,

Also, if you answered something like “we cater to everyone”, or “we cater to a wide range of people”, you are in even bigger trouble!

What is a target market?

A target market is a specific and defined segment of consumers that a company intends to serve with its products or services.

Identifying a target market is an essential step in the development of products, services and the marketing efforts used to promote them.

Furthermore, a target market generally includes the end users of a product or service.

This is why famed consultant Peter F. Drucker said, “The goal of marketing is to know and understand the customer so completely that the product or service fits into it and sells itself.”

What is a target audience?

The term ” target audience ” is narrower than “target market”. It specifically refers to the group of consumers targeted by the marketing messages.

Advertising specialist Tom Duncan explains: A target audience is “a group that has significant potential to respond positively to a brand message”.

Your target audience may or may not be the end user of your product, but it will represent the people you intend to target your marketing strategies.

Because “no matter what your product is, you are ultimately in the education business,” said Robert G. Allen. “Your customers need to be constantly educated about the benefits of doing business with you, how to use your products more effectively, and how to improve their lives.”

Target audience example

Although one of McDonald’s main target markets is children, there is a big problem with this target market: children have no purchasing power.

In other words, it’s not the children who buy McDonald’s products, it’s the adults.

Thus, McDonald’s created Happy Meal to serve its target market of children. But the ads McDonald’s creates to promote Happy Meals are aimed at parents.

Main differences between target market and target audience 

Target market and target audience are similar terms that often overlap. However, there are major differences between them, mostly related to the practical implications each of these groups have on your business.

A target market, or reference market, has chinese email address list an impact on all decisions made by a small business. The products or services are developed to meet the needs and desires of the target market. Packaging and pricing decisions are made to target the target market. And the sales processes are structured according to the purchasing preferences of this target.

Target Market and Target Audience can go together 

Often the target audience for a marketing message matches the target market.

For example, a yoga leggings brand may identify a target market of single women, aged 24 to 34, who regularly go to gyms, and who have shown an interest in yoga.

In this example, the target audience will coincide with the target market.

However, marketers can further refine the target audience. For example, they may decide to use Instagram advertising to reach their target market.

By doing so, the target audience can be further defined by Instagram users who follow accounts such as yoga, who have recently purchased products online, who live in a certain city, and who value fair trade products.

The power of market segmentation

Many people believe that casting a large net is the best way to catch more fish.

But the most successful fishermen know what kind of fish they intend to catch ahead of time. They make nets with a specific type of fish in mind. And they know exactly where to find these fish, and when to strategically deploy their nets to catch them.

This is why targeted advertisements are, on average, nearly double that of non-targeted advertisements.

“It is difficult to address a message to a generic 35-year-old working mother of two,” said Elizabeth Gardner. “It’s much easier to address Jennifer, who has two children under four, works as a legal assistant, and is always looking for quick but healthy dinners, and ways to spend more time with her kids and less time. doing housework “.

With a well-defined target market, every detail of a product or service can be perfectly adapted to your needs and desires. This will result in incredibly satisfied customers and extremely positive feedback.

Furthermore, with a well-defined target audience, every detail of a marketing campaign can be perfectly tailored to their interests, emotions and world views.

Target marketing: how to identify a target market

Now that you understand what the target markets and the target audience are, let’s see how to identify a target market.

Step 1: Identify the main benefits your business offers 

This aspect will be essential in identifying your ideal target market.

Start with the final result you want to create: satisfying the needs and desires of customers.

Are you helping overweight middle-aged men lose weight? Do you help older people take care of their gardens? Do you help young dad save time in the kitchen with cooking utensils?

Step 2: Refine your target market

At this point, you should have a basic understanding of the benefits of your product or service. From here, you need to narrow down the market segment you intend to reach.

Try to be as specific as possible.

First, define the demographics of your target market.

Demographics are simply a particular section of a population. You can segment your target market using demographic data such as age, location, gender, marital or family status, occupation, income level, education level, etc.

Next, identify the psychographics of the people who can get the most out of your product or service.

Psychographics are the psychological attributes of consumers, such as attitudes, values, interests, lifestyle and behavior, etc.

Step 3: Stay objective  best database provider

This is perhaps the most difficult part of the process.

It can be extremely difficult to avoid the assumptions. Additionally, many people unwittingly seek, recall, and interpret information in a way that confirms their own pre-existing beliefs or assumptions. This call confirmation bias.

If you’re not careful, this bias can completely derail any attempt to clearly define your target market and target audience, which, in turn, could spell disaster for your business.

And this always happens.

In fact, according to CB Insights, 42% of startups fail not for lack of funds, but for lack of market need.

In other words, they fail because entrepreneurs are so blindly passionate about their product or service that they forget to validate whether or not there is a real need in the market.

The other mistake companies make is to conduct a lot of research, but no actual testing.

Research is a perspective. Tests are proof.

It doesn’t matter how many people tell you they will use your product or service. And it doesn’t even matter how many people say they would buy your product or service.

It just counts how many people actually buy it.

So don’t ask people if they would buy your product, create a minimum viable product and start selling it.

This is the only way to know for sure if there is a real need in the market.

In summary: always assume that no target cares about your business, brand, product or service, unless it has categorically prove otherwise.

Step 4: evaluate your market segmentation

Now that you have real data on who your customers will be, you need to verify that your target market is a market worth serving.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Are there enough people in my target market to support my business?
• Does this market segment have enough money to buy my product or service?
• Will they buy repeatedly or will I have to constantly look for new customers?
• Is there a lot of competition for this market segment?
• If not, why?
• If there is, what sets us apart from the competition? Why should customers buy from us?
• How accessible is this target market?

Again, research can only lead up to a point. To definitively answer these questions, you need to create real tests in which you actually compare yourself with your target market.

Finding a Market Segment: Conclusion

A clearly defined target market and target audience are vital to any company’s long-term success.

The dispersive approach can only lead up to a certain point, and only if you manage to cross the starting line.

So, try to understand who your company is for and why these people should interested.

Remember that the only way to know who to aim for is to run tests.

Once you have defined your target market, make sure your products or services meet their needs or desires.

Next, define your target audience: the specific group you want to target your marketing efforts .

Remember, casting a wide net is the death sentence for a small business. Be specific.

What is the main benefit your business offers to consumers? Leave a comment below and let us know!