When meeting with different companies we often hear, “everyone will want to purchase my service”. It may seem contradictory to turn away business from a particular demographic. But that does not mean that you should target the entire population with your advertising efforts! That is expensive and doesn’t lead to really finding and speaking to those people who are you best potential customers.
Targeting a specific market is not exclusionary, it’s good business. By tailoring your message and focusing your advertising dollars to a specific portion of the population you are more likely to find a buyer/user that will understand, appreciate, or re-purchase your product.
Market definition means that you can effectively and efficiently spend your marketing dollars!
Here are our 4 easy steps to define your target market:
1. Look at your current customers. Are there similar characteristics between your best customers? Does one particular industry buy from you more than others?
2. What is your competition doing and how big is the market? What defines you?
3. Understand the demographics and psychographics of your market or industry. It can sound confusing but it really shouldn’t be. Simple conversation about this will include: age, gender or income level and the values or kind of lifestyle they lead.
4. Evaluate your results and you can have a focus for tailoring your advertising.
If all of this seems overwhelming, give The Hathaway Group a call or send us an email. We’d be glad to walk you through the steps to defining your target market!