How to Find Your Target Market

You’ve got your vision, your mission statement, your corporate goals. Now it’s time to start marketing to the customers. But who are these customers? No product or service appeals to everyone, and it’s impossible for your message to be received by everyone in the same way. So how do you identify your brand’s audience? Once you find out who is watching your brand, how do you segment the market to identify those who will buy?

Here are the things you need to consider when choosing your target market:

The Ten Commandments Of Choosing A Target Market:

1. Be specific, keep a narrow focus.
2. Don’t go after exactly the same market as your competition.
3. Make a list of your product or service’s features and what benefits each feature offers. Who needs those benefits? Focus on what problem of theirs you are solving.
4. Choose a pain to solve rather than a need or desire.
5. Don’t assume that you know your audience or that they believe and feel how you do.
6. Don’t assume that your audience knows their own preferences perfectly.
7. Research the users of your product or service by drawing upon:
   1. Surveys
   2. Existing data
   3. The people in your personal network and their buying behavior
8. Consider the demographics, psychographics and behavioristic qualities of your customers and create a customer profile.
9. Engage with your audience and use their language.
10. Remember that your market is dynamic, and continually re-evaluate your marketing strategy.

Questions To Ask Yourself When Choosing A Target Market:

About your customer:

1. 1. What does your current customer base look like?
   2. How will your product fit into your customer’s lifestyle?
   3. What other interests does your customer base have/share?
   4. Will the customer see the need that you have identified?
   5. Why should the customer buy from you?
   6. Can the customer afford it?
   7. When will the customer buy it? How often? How much of it?
   8. How does the customer shop?
   9. How does the customer make use of technology?
   10. How does the customer interact with social media?
   11. When and where are the best time and place to reach the customer?
   12. How long will it take the customer to decide to buy your product/service?

About your business:

1. 1. Are there enough customers in your target market?
   2. Do you need to alter your product to better appeal to your audience?
   3. What is your revenue model?
   4. Are your prices reasonable to the customer? Do they allow you to stay financially afloat?

About your competition:

1. 1. What are customers buying from the competition?
   2. How much do they charge? Would customers be willing to pay a little more for extra?
   3. What weaknesses do the reviews of the competitor’s product/service indicate?

Use these commandments and reflective questions to guide your initial market selection, but keep in mind that the consumer market is always evolving, so you will have to re-research your audience and competitors periodically to stay ahead of the game.

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