Market and Price

Target Marketing

It's important to remember that the focus of marketing is people. If you're concentrating your efforts on your product or profit only, you'll miss the mark. The term target market is used because that market - that group of people - is the bull's eye at which you aim all your marketing efforts. So, don't forget that a market is people - people with common characteristics that set them apart as a group. The more statistics you have about a target market, the more precisely you can develop your strategy.

Design Marketing Strategies with Your Target Market in Mind

The reason we're concerned with identifying a target market is because it makes strategies for designing, pricing, distributing, promoting, positioning, and improving your product, service, or idea easier, more effective, and more cost-effective. For example, if research shows that a sturdy recyclable package with blue lettering appeals to your target market and if you're focused on that target market, you should choose that type of packaging. If, however, you're product or profit oriented - rather than people oriented - you might simply make the package out of plain Styrofoam because it protects the product (product oriented) or because it's cheap (profit oriented). Here's another example: If you know your target market is 24- to 49-year-old men who like rhythm and blues, are frequent CD buyers, and live in urban neighborhoods, you can create an advertising message to appeal to those types of buyers. Additionally, you could buy spots on a specific radio station or TV show that appeals to this type of buyer, rather than buying general media time to "kinda cover all the bases." Make sense? In summary, when you're making marketing decisions and you say "kinda," it's costing you money. Know who you are aiming for (your target market) and create a strategy for a direct hit.