How to Cater to Your Target Market
Targeted marketing isn't a new concept, but it is one that many businesses both small and large have been trying to employ in recent years. Targeting and catering to your market is a very effective way to not only increase revenues, but to grow your business and gain customer loyalty. In order to cater to your target market, you will need to conduct research, evaluate your products and services, and decide how to refine what you're offering to consumers.
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Identify just who or what your target market is. This is vital because until you define your target market, there's no way you can tailor your product, service, or message to them. This is also known as choosing a niche. For example, if you want to start a graphic design company, your target market could be Internet electronics retailers, businesses in the wedding industry, or non-profit organizations.
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Evaluate the types of media your target market is most likely to pay attention to--you can't cater to them if you're delivering your message or advertising a product in the wrong places. For example, if you own a high-end women's clothing store, you need to find out what magazines, Internet sites, radio and television stations your customers tune into the most. You can find out this information by conducting surveys or studying the press kits of different media outlets--they will typically contain demographic information.
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Research the buying trends of your target market and analyze what they want in a product or service by reading trade and industry magazines, studying consumer reports, or hiring a marketing firm that conducts consumer surveys. This last option is the most expensive, and is best for companies that are already established.
Doing this research will enable you to give your target market what they want, which will ultimately increase your company's growth and profits.
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Focus on giving your customers what they want as opposed to what you think they need. For example, let's say you manufacture two types of cookies and want to gain more customers. You assume that to get more customers you should just introduce more cookie flavors, when in actuality your customers just want better packaging for your products that will keep them fresher for a longer period of time.
If you take the move to introduce more flavors without fixing the packaging, you won't end up gaining customers, but you will lose money. However, if you find out what your customers truly want you can make the changes necessary to attract more business. You can find out what customers want by reaching out to them via a company blog or social network, welcoming their feedback, and offering incentives for completing satisfaction surveys.
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Refine your message or product to meet your target market's expectations. This should be done within reason, and you shouldn't necessarily make every change that your target market demands, but the changes that will benefit both the customers and your business. Example: through conducting satisfaction surveys, you know that the top two changes your customers would like to see your hair salon make are decreasing the price of hair coloring and extended business hours. If you know you would lose money by decreasing the cost of hair coloring, you could instead consider staying open for an extra hour or two on the busiest three days of the week to meet your target market's expectations.
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