Before you launch an effective marketing campaign, there’s a crucial piece of information you’ll need to know – and that’s your target market. If you don’t have an idea about who wants or needs your services and or products, then how will you know where to find these people, and what appealing things to say to them?
One of biggest challenges businesses face is making sure that directly talking to their local target market. With minimal marking funds, it is important that your message reaches the right people and in this case potential customers.
While it may sound obvious, but there are many businesses out there that don’t consider who’ll buy their products and or services before they embark on a marketing campaign. How will you able to market and grow your business without using this information?
The following are some simple, yet effective steps on how you can get your business message out to your local target audience.
DEFINE YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE
Your first step will be to define your target audience. Have a clear overview of your target market will help you eliminate the ‘maybes’ and ‘nevers’ so as to ensure your marketing efforts are cost-effective and targeted.
The following are things to note about your target market:
- Demographics – who’s your target audience? What’s their gender, profession, income and age etc.
- Psychographics – how does your target audience think? What are their attitudes, values, interests, likes and dislikes?
- Behavioural – what does your target market get up to? How do they view media, and is it online or offline? What websites or publications?
It’s certainly worth taking the extra step to think about what your target market is like. You can do this by writing short statements describing your ideal customers.
REACH OUT TO YOUR TARGET MARKET
The next thing will be to consider how you’ll reach that target market. After spending time profiling your target audience, this step should be relatively easier for you. To make the most of your marketing efforts, you need to cast your fishing net where the fish are!
Here are some examples to consider – if your target market is made up of 25-35 year old professionals, you will need to think of online platforms and social media as these are mediums this demographic engages in actively. Alternatively, if your target market is aimed at 55-65 year old retirees, you may want to consider print publications as this demographic likes reading.
IDENTIFY THE KIND OF CUSTOMERS THEY ARE
In every marketing campaign you embark on, you also need to remember the kind of customers you are trying to forge a relationship with. Are they current, lapsed, new or repertoire (repertoire customers being those not loyal to a particular brand, but may be influenced by promotional offers). This will have an impact the message and tone you adopt.
CUSTOMIZE YOUR MARKETING TO YOUR CUSTOMERS
Once you fully understand the kind of person or people you are talking to, you’ll be in a better position to make sure all communications are on-message and sent through the proper channels and media. With the intelligence you’ve gained in the proper way, you can ensure your marketing budget has more impact and more likely to boost revenue.
KNOWING YOUR TARGET MARKET WILL HELP YOUR BUSINESS GROW
The importance of knowing your target market for business growth cannot be emphasized enough. By doing this you will be able to know what message to convey, which will help you cut costs, increase effectiveness and lead to overall profits.
To learn more on how you can get your business message out to a local target audience, visit: visit Letterbox Media.