One way to ensure that your marketing tools are used efficiently is to do a strong target market analysis. In this way, you can identify the key features of your potential customers and use them to directly advertise your products or services.
The following tips will help you create a target market analysis that will help you understand and dominate your niche.
1. Collect data
Determine who wants to buy from you by determining who is already using your product or service. Define the characteristics of your current customer base and look for people who fit in the same form.
Collect all information about your existing customers in a database that you can use to follow trends. The data points you should consider are:
- Age – No need to be specific. While it makes no difference whether your average customer is 27 or 34, it helps to know which generation they need to determine which products or services they need.
- language – Never assume that your customers speak the same language as you. Also, don’t assume that you speak the dominant language of your current location.
- place – Where in the world do your existing customers live? Knowing the geographic areas you’re targeting can help you figure out when your customer service should be online and when you need to schedule your ads to ensure visibility.
- Shopping behavior – How much money are your customers currently spending on your products or services? Do you have any special concerns or preferences that need to be addressed?
- interest – What other things do your customers like besides your product or service? Which other companies do you buy from or interact with?
- Stage of life – Are your customers likely to be parents? Or are they teenagers whose interests are changing quickly?
When you sell B2B products or services, your categories look a little different. You may want to collect information about:
- Company size: What types of companies buy and interact with you? Are they SMEs or large companies?
- Decision makers: Do you contact the Marketing Manager or the CEO?
2. Check the competitors
Once you understand better who is buying your product or service. The next step is to look at your competitors and understand how they market in your target market. Check out the contest to answer these key questions:
- How do competitors position themselves in the market??
- Do they follow the same customer as you?
- Do they reach customers you are not considering?
- Do you have good ratings? What weaknesses do they have that you may be able to fix with your products?
- How about pricing? Are your customers willing to pay more if something is offered extra?
If your competitor is doing well, you may not want to adjust to a similar market segment. However, if your customers are unsatisfied, this can be an excellent opportunity for you to compete directly.
If you have strong business judgment, you can identify the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors and use new opportunities to drive success.
3. Use existing resources
A quick online search takes you to existing resources to help you gather information about your niche, market segment, competition and potential customers. The great thing is that it makes your job easier because someone has already done the job.
With these tools you can add more data to your research:
- Google Analytics offers web analytics services that allow you to analyze the people who visit your website.
- Facebook for business You get a business account where you can manage Facebook advertising campaigns. It also gives you a wealth of information about the people who visit your Facebook page and interact with your ads.
- Ahrefs is a tool for SEO and online marketing, with which you can identify backlinks to competitors. It also shows you which industries might be interested in your offers.
- Google Trends helps you find out where your target customers are normally located. It analyzes popular top searches on Google search in different regions and languages.
- Quantcast provides reliable insights, audience and measurement solutions for the audience to better understand and measure consumer behavior.
4. Make a target market statement
Gather everything you have found out about your potential customers so far and summarize it in a simple statement that clearly defines your target market. A good example is Zipcar’s brand positioning statement, which defines the target market:
“For urban, educated and tech-savvy consumers who care about the environment and who will inherit from future generations, Zipcar is the car sharing service that can save you money and reduce your carbon footprint so you feel being a smart A responsible decision that shows your commitment to environmental protection. “
If you look closely, Zipcar is not targeting all residents of a particular city. You have a specific goal, and these are people who:
- are city dwellers
- have a degree
- master the use of modern technology
- takes into account the environment
The list above shows the interests and behaviors that Zipcar specifically targets. It serves as a guide to the company’s marketing approach to its services, as seen in the rest of the statement.
When creating your statement, try to consider the key demographics and behaviors of your customers. Example:
[Company Name]’s Target market is [gender], [age range] Years old living in [location] and loves it [activity].
Note: It is not necessary to stick to these specific identifiers. For example, gender may be irrelevant to your target customers, but you need to include 1-2 key activities in your statement. The goal is to summarize all of your research results into a single statement that guides your marketing efforts. If you offer multiple products, you may have to create a target market statement for each product.
5. Review and apply your analysis
Do not only create summaries, but also projections. A target market analysis is of greater value if it not only describes the current state of the market, but also predicts or projects the future of your company. This prepares your company for any changes that may affect your business.
Do you create a target market analysis for your customer or your own company? In any case, you are expected to make recommendations. In your analysis, ask yourself what steps you would suggest to take the business forward? Should they expand their target markets?
A target market analysis is useless unless the company will do it. Once you’ve completed the report, you need to know who to take action on. You can be directly involved in the marketing effort or share it with another person. After a while, you should keep track of whether changes have been made.
Make sure you take the lessons from your target market analysis into account. Check your target market statements again to ensure that your potential customers continue to be described. Remember that your target market will continue to develop. So always stay up to date with your target market definition if your products and target groups change.
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