5 Steps to Identify Your Ideal Target Audience and Help Increase Sales

With the current state of the economy, it is more important than ever to have a well-defined target audience. It doesn’t make sense to target everyone with your online marketing strategy, and a poorly-defined audience can put a major dent in your marketing budget.

Target marketing will focus your brand message and marketing dollars on a market that is most likely to buy from you, and this is an effective and affordable way to reach potential clients, generate business, and increase your sales.

Identify the Need that Your Product Fulfills

The starting point to define your target market is to understand the problems that your product solves. To do this, write out a list of each feature of your service or product. Next to the feature, list the benefits that it provides. For example, if you are a graphic designer, one of the features of your business may be to provide high-quality designs. A benefit to this feature would be a professional business image.

Once you have your list completed, identify people who have a need that these benefits fulfill. In the same example, a graphic designer may want to target up-and-coming businesses or existing companies that are interested in boosting their client base.

Analyze the Data

Data can be used to objectively analyze your target market. You can collect preliminary demographic data via newsletters or email blast campaigns. If your business offers a service or product similar to those that are already found on the market, do some research to find out what demographic groups are purchasing these items and which are the most popular. All of this information will help you to draw a clearer picture of who might be interested in what your business has to offer.

Choose Specific Demographics to Target

Not only do you have to identify who might need your service or product, but you also need to consider who is most likely to purchase it. Consider the following factors:

• Gender
• Age
• Location
• Income level
• Marital/family status
• Education level
• Occupation

Know Your Competition

Chances are good that you aren’t the only company that offers your particular service or product, so it is important to know your competition. Find out who your competitors are targeting and what their current customer base looks like. If possible, don’t chase after the exact same market. Your online marketing efforts will be better used if you can find a niche market that your competitors have missed.

Evaluate Your Decision

After you’ve made a decision on a target market, you’ll want to ask yourself a few questions:

• Will my target benefit from my service/product, and will they see a need for it?
• Are there enough people who fit these criteria?
• Can my target audience afford my service/product?
• Will I be able to reach my target with my message?

Remember that it is okay to have more than one niche, but you may need to have a different online marketing message for each group.

Need Some Online Marketing Guidance?

Defining your target audience isn’t always simple, but once you know who you are targeting, it will be much easier to determine how to reach them. Get better results with your online marketing budget by identifying your target market.

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