Understand your target market

Today, companies that continue to perform well know their target market. They send the right message to the right people at the right time. If you’ve just started out in business, you’ve obviously made the first step in creating a unique product or service that is ready to be marketed to the world. You’re excited and ready to tell everyone. But before you start trying to get your message across to the entire population, you should start thinking who the most likely users are of your product or service.

Often in a cluttered market place, your product or service however unique it is will be compared to similar offerings. Consumers today are spoilt for choice, and not only are you competing locally but internationally with more and more consumers choosing to shop online. What are you doing to make people see your product and say ‘I need that in my life right now!’

Starting your business with clearly defined goals on who you are and who you are talking to will prevent you from trying to be everything to everyone. Along with a strong business plan, understanding your target market will help you determine exactly what communication channels and key messages to use to best market your product or service offering.

Without some idea of who you are targeting you run the risk of alienating potential customers, keeping in mind that the purchaser may be different to the consumer of your product or service.

For example, you may own a toy store. Your target market is children as they will be the consumer of your product.  However the group purchasing these items would generally be parents or grandparents, so that is who the message needs to target.

There are some easy steps to follow that will help you determine your target market. You can choose to engage a marketing professional to can assist identify your typical customer and tailor a marketing plan and budget accordingly to build a solid foundation for your business.

Get started!

Check out your competition

Who are your competitors targeting? Don’t just be restricted to the same market, discover a market they may be overlooking.

Analyse your product/service offering

Write a list of all your products and services, next to each write the feature and benefits they provide. Once your benefits are listed you can then determine who will need that benefit fulfilled.