Paulina Romero HWhat is a Target Market? Why should you identify it? In this article, we help you to better understand this concept and we share a strategy with you that will help you to:
- Better identify your target market
- Give it a close follow-up in order to increase your company's sales
What is a Target Market?
What every company wants to do is to sell and, in oder to do so, it must invest in marketing campaigns so customers get to know their product or service. Now, at the beginning of each campaign, we must first define to whom is our strategy directed to since, depending on the specific characteristics of our market, the appropriate publicity will be designed.
For example, it's not the same to make a TV commercial of toys, than of cigarettes. Their content just won't be the same! neither will be the music, images, discourse, etc. It'll all be very different! You don't talk to a child the way you do to an adult. Thus, knowing your target market, that is, the specific market to whom your campaigns will be directed to, is key for the success of your marketing efforts.
Defining Your Target Market
There are many aspects to consider when defining your target market. The ones we consider the most basic ones are:
- Age
- Gender
- Socio-economic status
- Interests and likes
- Location
- Profession/occupation
- Lifestyle
- Communication channels he/she uses most
We of course understand that not all of your customers will be the same yet, you can build a basic model (what we in Inbound Marketing call a Buyer Persona) to help you better identify the kind of person that your campaigns will be directed to.
Ways to Build this Model
You make a first sketch based on:
- Information- Market studies you can count on
- Creativity- Making an exercise of -informed- imagination about who that client who might need our product or service could be.
Now, there is an even more specific way to sketch and approach this market. Thanks to technology, we now can count on a new marketing strategy specifically designed to help your target market reach you insted, to have it share its information with you, while finding in your company what its looking for.
This strategy is called Inbound Marketing. This strategy is based on being present on the internet, with good-quality content, so that when your target market is looking for something that your happen to offer, it finds you. Once it finds you, if the content of your website is interesting and helpful enough, this person will begin to share its contact information with you by filling out forms that are specifically designed to:
- Better define who your clients are according to the information and interests that they willingly share with you. By doing so, you'll be defining your target market even closer/better.
- Start a direct communication with your potential buyers which drives you closer to your target market.
In other words, your database will be filled in by your target market itself and. You'll have their consent to stay in touch with them and will be able to increase the relationship of trust that they have with your company, favoring thus, future sales.
Attraction Marketing.
A strategy created to respond to the needs of your Target Market.
These days, when a client tries to solve a problem or need, he first looks for information on it on the Internet. His first interest isn't to buy something rather, it's to learn more about the product or service that might solve his need. It's not until he's walked a buying road based on relevant and trustworthy information that he finally decides to buy what he needs, with an specific company.
While the client is walking this informational road, he is filling contact forms in which in return, will help us learn more about him and thus, target our campaigns better, in a more specific way.
As you can see, it's not about marketing without a target anymore. Traditional marketing did define a market, but then broadcasted the message to a general audience (not targeted) hoping that "someone out there", someone from that bunch of people who saw the message, would in the end become a potential client.
An Inbound Marketing strategy responds to the customer's way of buying today and what's best, to the specific needs and interests of your target market, who is approaching you, looking for what you have to offer. All you have to do is know how to be there so that, when they search sor something on the Internet, they find you and not your competition. Now, that's the real trick, that's why you need a strategy, it's not that simple to have your page offered as a "best result" on search engines such as Google.
Do you want to know how to achieve this "best result" place? We here share with you some of our blogs that might help:
- Kinds of Traffic in Marketing: Cold, Warm and Hot
- Google Tips on How to Be #1. Improving SEO
- What is Inbound Marketing and Why Does it Work?
You can also contact us, we'd be glad to answer to your questions and share our strategy with you.