TARGET MARKET

Defining your market is essential to the success of your business. Too narrow a definition means that you are missing out on huge opportunities to sell more of your products and services. Too broad a definition means that your marketing money may be wasted.

Defining the right market for your business is difficult and with the fast pace of technology and lifestyle this definition is probably changing all the time. Take Kodak for example, they are in the business of photography. With digital cameras becoming very popular people are no longer buying films as they used to do. As a result Kodak had to change the definition of its market and develop new products like photo printing papers, printers…Not all businesses however have the resources and the capabilities of Kodak.

Here is a practical method to help you define your market and make every dollar you spend on marketing count:

1- What are you selling? You need to define what is it you are selling and why your customers buy your products and services. The best way to do that is by asking your existing customers. Why do they buy from you? What needs do your products and services fulfil for them? Are they satisfied with what you sell? What else can you do to improve your products and services?

2- Customer and user needs: product types usually satisfy basic needs as well as emotional needs. Examples of basic needs are functional areas like nourishing, heating, transporting, saving time and so on…emotional needs on the other hands are need for fun, status, excitement, pleasing appearance…If you are able to define your target market basic and emotional needs you have a good chance of selling your products and services to this entire segment. A good example of this is the mobile phone market. The basic need for a mobile phone is to make calls when we are on the move. As such all phones should be the same. As we know, this is not true. Companies like Nokia target the emotional needs and continuously produce handsets with different colours, shape and functionalities like built in camera, music player and so on. You should also ask your customers about their emotional needs when they buy your products.

 

3- Who are your typical customers? Knowing your customers will help you identify their needs and how best to target them. As such you need to define what type of customer buys your products. Are the buyers the end users? This is very important to know so that you can ask (or guess) the end user needs. A good example is parents buying for their children. They usually look at things like fire resistance, durability, safety and so on…but children would look at colours, TV characters, sounds, lights and so on. You should have a database of your existing customers. If you don’t, you’d better start one immediately. Have a look at your existing customers and decide if there are any similarities. Do they fit in the same age group? Social status? Do they listen to radio stations, read local newspapers, buy certain kinds of magazines? Knowing these things will help you decide on where your advertising dollar should go.

 

4- Where do you sell and where can you sell? Look at the geographical area you are selling into. Do your customers come from far to buy your products or are they local? Can you extend your sales territory selling through the internet or by mail order? Should you consider distributors?

 

Once you answer the 4 questions above using your existing customers as the main source of information and then adding your own planning and strategy you will stand a very good chance of ensuring that you are benefiting from all the opportunities and making every advertising dollar work for you.

So be prepared. GOOD HUNTING!

At BPRW Marketing we understand the real impact that clearly defining your target market has on the effectiveness of your marketing activity and the profitability of your business as a whole. Just call us on 1300 736 150 or Contact us online if you need any assistance with the development or implementation of any aspect of your business growth strategy.