Your customer is going to determine the success or failure of your company. The math is simple, the more buying customers you have, the better your business will do. On the flip side, however, if you don’t have enough TARGET CUSTOMERS, your business will fail. It is important that your business find its niche instead to becoming a master of none. To find out if your company is in the red or on the golden path let’s explore the topic of target marketing.
WHAT IS TARGET MARKETING?
Target marketing is the process of finding potential customers who will most likely buy your product. In other words, these customers require less “push” to buy your product.
I want you to picture shooting a shotgun at a target about 100 yds away. What happens when you try to shoot the very center of the target? You may get lucky and have a couple of the bb’s hit the very center, but there is no way you can say what bb is going to hit the center. What happens when you increase the distance between you and the target? The further you get away from your target the harder it is to hit the center of it.
To ensure you hit the target in the center whether, in close range or long distance, you need the right tool for the job. A rifle offers a wide variety of components specifically designed to help you hit the center of the target.
When you are trying to fill your customer pipeline you need to have the right tool/ approach for the job. If you implement a shotgun approach to finding the right customers, you will be lucky to hit your target. However, if you take a rifle approach, you can hone in on the target from practically any distance and hit your mark. Using this approach to finding the right customer for your business/ products only benefits your company.
DOES EVERYONE NEED TO IMPLEMENT TARGET MARKETING?
Every business that wants to not only survive but thrive needs to implement target marketing. There are only so many ads you can run before the advertising budget is spent. To be the most effective you need to get your ads in front of the people most likely to buy/consume your product.
HOW TO DETERMINE YOUR TARGET MARKET
We have discussed what a target market is and why it is important to implement this marketing strategy. Now we need to cover how to determine who you should target with your marketing efforts.
WHO ARE YOUR CURRENT CUSTOMERS?
To determine exactly who your target market is there are a couple of places to start. The first place to look is in your current customer base. Who is already buying your product? Dive deep into this question. The more detailed you can get, the better you will understand exactly who you should be targeting.
Here are some questions to consider when assessing who your current customers are:
- Where do your customers live?
- What do your customers do for a living?
- Where do your customers spend most of their time?
- What age are most of your customers?
- What are your customer’s hobbies?
- How much money do they make?
- What education do they have?
- What lifestyle attributes do they have?
Think of as many questions as you can regarding the details of your current customers and this data will help you to figure out exactly who you need to start targeting. The people buying your product currently will help to provide you with the information you need to target other consumers with similar buying habits.
WHO IS YOUR COMPETITION TARGETING?
Another resource you can use to figure out your target market is to look into who your competition is targeting. Often, they have in house experts that have already done this research for you. If you have a product similar to that of your competition find out who they are targeting and develop a similar strategy. Pay attention to their add campaigns through various sources (pay per click, Instagram, banner ads, etc.) It’s important however to make sure your competition isn’t in the red before you adopt their target marketing strategy.
DEVELOP YOUR STRATEGY
At this point you have compiled a lot of data regarding your current customers and those of your competition. Now it is time to craft your message for your target market. Use all of the data you derived from the questions above. Once you have created your marketing message there is only one thing left to do and that is to TEST! By testing your marketing strategy on your target market, you will get feedback on whether you have honed in on the right target or not.
Creating a specific marketing strategy coupled with a targeted group of customers is the best way to ensure your company will have success. The more people you can find that want your specific product, the better your business will do. This ensures that you are not only finding, but providing value to the person who wants it most. This may cost you time and money up front, but it will pay dividends in the future.
HERE’S AN EXAMPLE
Launch Fulfillment is a Utah fulfillment company for e-commerce based businesses. We focus on customers who have the following needs:
- Expedited Shipping
- Freight Shipping
- E-commerce Fulfillment
- Pick and Pack
- Custom Packaging
As a Utah fulfillment center, we have targeted companies who need help with those areas of their business. Handling other business’s shipping logistics and serving them as a fulfillment warehouse guarantees us more business. We have targeted certain companies that are in need of a shipping warehouse and we offer them the ultimate warehousing solution.
Again, take the necessary time to ensure you are targeting the customer best suited for your product. Do not use a shotgun approach. Use the current customer base you and your competition have to determine who you should target. Develop your message and test test test.