4 Steps to Better Define Your Target Market

It’s shocking but true - many businesses fail to understand their target market. Those who don’t put the necessary time and energy into this simple task are likely to run into big problems down the road, that is, if their business even lasts that long!

If you want your business to succeed, you must know who you are selling to, and not just on a superficial level. In this short article, we’ll cover 4 of our favorite methods that you can use to learn more about your target market.

1. Understand Your Products or Services Deeply: In order to determine your target audience you must have a true understanding of what problem your product or service solves, what its pros are, and what its cons are.

2. Let’s look at a simple product example: a bicycle. What problem does a bike solve? Well, it allows its rider to move quickly and efficiently from point A to point B, as long as the distance is short. There are many pros to the bike: it’s good for your health, it’s relatively inexpensive, it doesn’t require too much upkeep, it can go places a car cannot, etc.. Yet there are also many cons. It’s hard to ride in the winter, it’s not ideal for long distances, you need to be relatively healthy to use it, and it’s hard to ride if you need to carry something.

Once you’ve determined this basic information, you can better understand the type of person who might wish to purchase our product.

Determine Which Demographics Match Your Offering: What age group would buy your product or service? Is it gender specific? What language do your customers speak and where do they live? What is their salary and occupation?

Try your best to determine the closest match to your service or products. Consider who is your most likely customer base. Remember that just because your targeted demographics include 21-25 year olds in Brooklyn, it doesn’t mean you can’t sell your offering to a 42 year old who lives in Queens.

Go Deep into Psychographics: Now that you know your base demographics, it’s time to take a deep dive into psychographics. Psychographics consist of information about your target customers’ personalities and interests. Consider their hobbies, interests, and their values. How do they spend money? Are they budget shoppers who pinch pennies or big spenders who put it all on their platinum cards?

This valuable information teaches you what matters to your customers, what concerns them, and how they like to shop.

1. Evaluate Your Competition: Check out what the competition is doing. Who are they targeting? Is there a large market that they’re missing? Is everyone in your sector going for the same set of customers? Know what you’re getting into and make sure you have a clear strategy for attracting your target customer base.

Don’t forget to reevaluate your target market over time! Many businesses are surprised to find new target markets emerge that they would never have imagined in advance. Be nimble and know when and how to pivot when necessary.

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Michael Kelly is a Freelancer Writer, Entrepreneur and passionate blogger. A writer by day and a reader by night.