Defining Your Target Market

One of the first things a business needs to do is define their target market. How do you sell a product/service if you don’t know who you’re trying to sell to?

Why is this important?

Here’s a very basic way of thinking about it:

Marketing for a fifteen-year-old girl is going to look very different than marketing to a sixty-five-year-old man. You will use different marketing techniques. For example, would you pour most of your marketing budget into online mediums to target the senior generation? No, because most of that generation are not using computers or cell phones. However, you probably would use mostly online methods to target teenagers because that is where they spend most of their time!

You want to be very specific with defining your target market so you can really speak to your potential clients through your advertising and promotions.

Primary and Secondary Markets

This is usually where business owners look at me and say, “but I don’t want to limit myself to just one type of customer?!”

An important thing to keep in mind – just because you’re defining your target market, doesn’t mean that this is the only category of customer that you’re allowed to have.

Your target market is also known as your primary market. This is the largest group of people who will be using your product. You may have a secondary market segment as well, however this is a smaller group of people so you will spend less time trying to connect with them. Here’s an example:

Who is Jeep’s target market? Let’s say they target people who like the off roading/back country/4x4 lifestyle – specifically men. They would need to earn between $60,000-100,000 per year to be able to afford the product. They would be between 25-45 years old... etc. BUT – does that mean a woman from the city cannot buy a Jeep Grand Cherokee because she likes the look and the space it has for her family? Of course, she can! That’s not who Jeep’s target market is but they aren’t going to turn customers away because they don’t fit into their target market. This may be their secondary market.

How do I define my target market?

Think about your product/service(s). Who is going to use them? Outline the perfect client for your business. Here are some great questions to give you an idea of who your target market is.

1. How old are they? Note: Age range.

2. Are they male or female or both? Note: If it is both, you may want to target the person with the buying power. Example – if you’re selling granola bars, yes men and women can eat it however mom tends to shop for the family.

3. What is the highest level of education they would have completed? Note: This often goes hand in hand with the next question about income.

4. What is their income level? Household income? Note: Range of income. Keep in mind, someone with a $30,000 salary will not be buying a $100,000 vehicle. They need to be able to afford your product.

5. What is their occupation? Note: This is important if you are selling a specific product or service – like being a virtual assistant, your answer would probably be “entrepreneur/business owner” because that is who you want to work with. OR maybe you offer unemployment services, like resume writing and interview prepping, you would want to target people who are unemployed

6. What is their marital status? Do they have a family?

Note: Back to the granola bar example from above… are you selling a granola bar that is healthy for mom to put in her kids’ lunches?

7. What personal values do they have?

Note: to continue on the example… do they like to eat healthy? Do they value nutrition? Your granola bar will be right up their alley!

I think you get the point… I will let you continue on without my notes….

8. Where do they live?

9. What is their personality like? Are they an introvert or extrovert? Are they loyal? Are they frugal or do they like to spend money?

10. What type of music do they listen to?

11. Do they use social media?

12. What type of lifestyle do they lead? Country? City? Very modern? Old fashion?

13. What is their problem that needs solving? Are they currently purchasing a competitor to solve the issue?

14. Who do they listen to or look to for advice?

15. How do they spend their spare time? Where do they hang out (physically, like at events or coffee shops, and digitally, like Facebook or Spotify)?

16. What type of advertising would they take in? Do they read the news paper? Do they listen to the radio on their commute to work? Do they listen to podcasts? Loyal to a blog/forum?

17. What stores do they shop at?

Be SPECIFIC as possible. These are just a few questions you can ask yourself to get started. You can definitely go more into depth, especially about the buying behaviour. The more you know about your potential customers, the better.

Once you have your target market defined, you will know if this is a large enough group of people to be able to grow your business. Or you may find out that your product/service is too niche and you may need to rethink a few things. Do your research.

Once you’ve completed all of this, you will be able to identify the best marketing techniques to reach your target market!

Until next time –

Cassandra