If you try to be everything to everyone, then you will be
nothing to no one.
Defining a target market tends to give business owner’s a bit of trouble. Most of us like to think that, in some way, shape or form, that our target market includes the words “Everyone or Everybody”, “Anyone or Anybody”, or “All”.
If you don’t find a way to narrow down your target market, the simple truth is that you are wasting your marketing dollars.
5 Ways to Help Determine Your Target Market
1. Spend time researching your current customer base. Analyze both basic demographic data as well as psycho-behavioral data. Start a database and track the information and look for trends. It shouldn’t take long for a pattern to emerge. This market research is invaluable.
2. Remember that consumers and business owners buy a product or service for one of two reasons:
Pain Avoidance or Pleasure Seeking.
Evaluate your product/ service and determine which drives your customers’ purchasing decision. Are they trying to fix a pain point or do they seek to gain pleasure from a purchase or service.
3. As you evaluate your product or service, assess what it is that makes you different from your competition. This difference can help point the way to your ideal target market.
4. Analyze purchasing trends of your customers. As with tip #1, start a database and track this information.
5. Evaluate the ROI of marketing campaigns. By creating a “control” campaign and tweaking various aspects of it, you can gain valuable insight into why your target market makes a purchase.