Question

Topic: Strategy

How Do You Determine Your Target Market?

Posted by Anonymous on 1/26/2004 at 3:05 PM ET 125 Points
The services we provide can be marketed to professionals, medium sized businesses, non-profits and other entitities. But the field is much to big and we are having difficulty narrowing our target market.

How can we determine that target market?

What methods could be used to reach a specific market?
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Blaine Wilkerson on 1/26/2004 at 3:11 PM Member
    Here's a link to an article and tutorial on this site: Article and Tutorial

    I think you will find it helpful in determining your approach. I will post my personal response here in a bit.

    Good Luck!
  • Posted by ReadCopy on 1/26/2004 at 4:22 PM Accepted
    It is a good question and one that is hardly ever answered by Strategy books as always assume the target market is known!

    Properly analysed, Target Market Selection is one of the most time consuming areas of Strategic Marketing, and comes from the analysis of:

    Your Gap (https://www.marketing-magic.biz/archives/archive-marketing/gap-analysis.htm)
    Market Share (https://www.phoneplusmag.com/articles/111feat4.html)
    Customer Behaviour (https://www.businessvision.co.uk/sales_marketing_03.html)
    Market Segmentation (https://www.harcourtcollege.com/marketing/students/segmentation.htm)
    Market Research (https://www.sba.gov/starting_business/marketing/research.html)
    Market Attractiveness (https://www.yourethebusiness.com/content/tour/con10.asp)
    NOTE: Links above used, because I think they offer simple descriptions.
  • Posted on 1/27/2004 at 8:13 AM Member
    I believe the most often overlooked and most valuable secret in learning anything about any market is...

    Talk to them!

    It is well worth your time to get some face-to-face time with several representative individuals from each of your possible target markets and just ask them questions. Try to learn more about their needs.

    The ideal target market had these three qualities:

    1) Viable (large enough to make it attractive)

    2) Accessible (you can find and get in front of prospects)

    3) Needy (they have an acute and immediate unanswered need for your services)

    After you have several cups of coffee with several representative individuals from your possible markets, the next step is to test.

    Start making pitches to markets that you suspect meet the critera above. Even if you don''t have a product yet, you can pitch it as a hypothetical: "If you had access to a service that ________, would you find that to be something that would be worth an investment on your part?"

    You are way ahead of the pack by even asking the question, so keep after this until you get the focus you want.

    Doug Hudiburg
    https://www.dailymarketingace.com
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