Sunday
13Sep2009
Marketing Segmentation: How to Identify Your Target Market
Sunday, September 13, 2009 at 6:52PM 
The whole foundation for your business begins with marketing segmentation and truly understanding your target market. If you don't understand your target market, then all your marketing efforts will be wasted. You might know you should do it, but so many entrepreneurs skim over this step. Learn why marketing segmentation is so important, how to identify your target market and what to do with this information.
Marketing Segmentation is Your Foundation for Success
The key to a successful business is talking to the right audience -- the people who are interested in what you have to say, and what you have to sell. In other words, you have to reach your target market.
Let's start with a definition of a market. A market is a segment of the population that shares a common need or desire, and is motivated to buy something that satisfies that need.
Let's start with a definition of a market. A market is a segment of the population that shares a common need or desire, and is motivated to buy something that satisfies that need.
A target market is a subset of a market. More specifically, a target market is a group of people most likely to buy from you.
What Your Target Market Can Tell You
Understanding your target market is marketing segmentation at work. It allows you to:
1. Sharpen your marketing efforts -- The more you specialize, the more your target market will see the value of your services because you speak directly to them.
2. Differentiate yourself -- The best way to differentiate yourself is to market your business with a distinct group of people in mind.
3. Cater your services to their needs -- By understanding your customer, you will be better able to serve them, and in doing so, generate more sales.
4. Shorten your sales cycle and increase profits -- The beauty of target marketing is that it provides a focus to all of your marketing activities, making your business more efficient.
Marketing Segmentation -- How to Identify Your Target Market
Here are five steps to help you identify your target market:
1. Identify their demographics. What is their gender, age, income level, background, profession, etc. It really helps if you can personally relate to your target market, so you can connect with them in a genuine way.
2. What are their concerns, worries, fears, problems, challenges and painful circumstances? The goal of any business is to provide a solution that fulfills a need. In order to provide a tailored solution, you have to first understand their needs and concerns.
3. What are the reasons they are having these worries or concerns? Go one layer deeper and get inside their hearts and minds. This will give you the insights you need to fully relate to your target market.
4. What are their dreams, aspirations, wishes, goals, wants, likes and needs? What are the things that motivate them most deeply? What would they like their lives to look like? Wants are even more powerful than needs when it comes to buying decisions.
5. What is stopping them or holding them back from achieving their dreams and goals? What self-limiting beliefs are holding them back from accomplishing their dreams and desires? What situation or person (perhaps themselves) is stopping them from realizing their goals?
You might not have all the answers but do your best. That's why its so important to pick a target market you can relate to. And what you don't know, find out.
1. Identify their demographics. What is their gender, age, income level, background, profession, etc. It really helps if you can personally relate to your target market, so you can connect with them in a genuine way.
2. What are their concerns, worries, fears, problems, challenges and painful circumstances? The goal of any business is to provide a solution that fulfills a need. In order to provide a tailored solution, you have to first understand their needs and concerns.
3. What are the reasons they are having these worries or concerns? Go one layer deeper and get inside their hearts and minds. This will give you the insights you need to fully relate to your target market.
4. What are their dreams, aspirations, wishes, goals, wants, likes and needs? What are the things that motivate them most deeply? What would they like their lives to look like? Wants are even more powerful than needs when it comes to buying decisions.
5. What is stopping them or holding them back from achieving their dreams and goals? What self-limiting beliefs are holding them back from accomplishing their dreams and desires? What situation or person (perhaps themselves) is stopping them from realizing their goals?
You might not have all the answers but do your best. That's why its so important to pick a target market you can relate to. And what you don't know, find out.
Target Market Research
1. Personal Information
-
Speak with members of your target market, including existing customers. Look at the requests people make, the questions they ask, and their complaints.
2. Public Information
-
Visit online groups, blogs and forums that are geared to your target market. People tend to tell total strangers things that they wouldn't otherwise say.
What do you do with Information about your Target Market?
1. Hang out where they are online -- There are so many different social networking sites and every industry seems to have sites that cater to them specifically. Search Google until you find where your target market is socializing, then join that site and get to know people. Do NOT start spamming or pushing your services.
2. Talk their language -- Part of marketing segmentation is understanding what your target market is searching for online. What keywords or keyword phrases are they searching for? What keywords are used by people most likely to buy, vs. just looking for free information? Your goal is to find the keywords used by people willing to buy a product or service online and for which there is an acceptable level of competition. Keywords are at the heart of SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Don't be afraid of SEO. Here is some free SEO help for beginners.
3. Create content geared to your target market -- Reach your Target Market online with INFORMATION, not sales pitches. You need to provide content that is valuable to your target market.
4. Understand what sets you apart from your competition and communicate it clearly to your target market -- In other words, identify your Unique Selling Proposition or USP. Your USP is a sentence or phrase that explains what distinguishes you from your competitors. It is the answer you give when someone asks "Why should I buy from you?"
Learn How to Attract Your Target Market
Don't waste your time with non-targeted marketing. It is a waste of your time and money. Get a copy of my free report, "Ten Steps to Identify and Attract Your Ideal Niche".
Reader Comments (3)
Hi Cindy,
Thank you for this very good article. This will help me a lot for my market research.
Great article, Cindy. This really helps set up a step by step plan to find out who is your target market and how to get them what they want.
Michelle Moseley
Many thanks Perig and Michelle. Helping people identify and attract their target market has become a real passion for me. In fact, I'm going to be doing a whole new site with that as the main focus. In the meantime, I'm glad you found this article helpful.
all the best,
Cindy