Bullseye: Finding YOUR Target Market

Lately I've heard lots of people talk about how confusing it is to find their target market and so I thought I'd share some thoughts.

First, everyone must understand that this is not an option, but a requirement in doing business. Those who think that everyone on the planet could use their services are way off course. They say "If you're targeting everyone, you're targeting NO ONE." And it's true. Now, perhaps your service or product could be used by everyone. You still need to just focus on one core group, and life will be much easier and far less overwhelming. For small businesses in particular, this needs to be strongly looked into.

Major brands even have their own definition of their ideal customer, but also have the marketing budgets to promote on much larger, national levels by purchasing TV commercials, magazine ads in People, or appearing on Oprah as a sponsor which allows them to reach as many people at once as possible.

These details you need to know about your target market/customer are comprised of two things: demographic information and psychographic information or personality or lifestyle information. (Demographics included any hard facts such as the first three below.)

Here's a list of questions to ask yourself in looking for your target market:

- How old are they?
- Where do they live?
- Are they married, single, divorced, widowed, third-marriage?
- What is their profession and annual income?
- Where do they go on vacation? How often do they travel?
- What is their favorite TV show? Magazine subscription?
- Would they spend time online or choose to read a novel for liesure?
- Would you find them on a Friday night at Chuck E. Cheese, Red Lobster or Morton's Steakhouse?

The more specific you can narrow down your target, the easier it will be to find them and then proceed with the rest of your marketing strategy. But if you don't know where to look, you'll end up wasting WAY too much of your precious time. Do spend the time to really delve into who these fantastic customers of yours look like. This research is pivotal in your success and will travel through all aspects of your marketing plan. It will determine how you talk to them, where you place advertising, how much they will be willing to pay for your services and more.

If you need any help with this, please contact me. I LOVE figuring out target markets!