Identifying your Target Market

Identifying your Target Market is much more difficult than you think.

This came from a contact recently. "We did everything right! We looked long and hard at our offering. We developed a brochure that clearly described it in plain English. We sent it out to the list of companies but nothing came as a result. So what did we do wrong?”

I thought long and hard over this cry for help as the brochure looked really good. Even the mailing list looked reasonable. But when I looked harder, it became clear to me that they had not really understood who they should be talking to. They had not clearly defined their target audience.

Most business executives have an extremely good technical knowledge of their service. They know how it works, how it can be monetised and how to deliver it. The more adept can even turn this into a list of benefits that their clients enjoy.

But for many that is as far as it goes. They broadcast their messages and they then wonder why their marketing efforts stall or do not deliver that stream of new clients that should be buying from them.

I believe I now have the answer. They have not defined their target market!

Our goal at Credence-UK is to help businesses to grow so we asked ourselves this question. Why have they not completed this marketing task? Having asked a number of my clients and my contacts why they have not defined their target audience it transpires that they have never needed to!

The reason being that most small businesses grow through the Three R’s – repeats, referrals and recommendations so it is not always clear who they should be aiming their services at. New business came about in a haphazard way.

There is a very famous marketing saying that goes something like this– “50% of my marketing budget is wasted, but I don’t know which 50%”.

Assuming that most marketing collateral is an adequate reflection of the benefits of the service or product there can only be one other reason why the 50% is wasted.

My guess is that the 50% wastage occurs because it hits the wrong people.

Here is a very simple example. You cannot play the guitar and you have no wish to play the guitar. Would you respond to an advert for guitars? No, is the simple answer. OK, you might be on the look out for a friend, relative or colleague who is looking for one and that is where most marketing advice gets it wrong. They try to broadcast in the vague hope that you might make the connection between the guitar and the person you know has an interest. But in a business context you cannot afford to be that messy.

Marketing, like any other business discipline, must be efficient and effective. Every penny spent must be aimed at the audience most likely to buy.

After the Vision, the next hardest part in creating an effective marketing plan is clearly defining the target audience. My experience with helping agencies and businesses alike is that they just cannot nail down an accurate description of their target audience.

Sadly, there is no quick fix or snappy maxim to help us here. The best statement I can come up with to help is this – “the target market is that group of companies that has the greatest propensity to buy”. It can only be defined by a careful examination of all the relevant factors concerning your service offering such as - pricing strategy, delivery, geographical location, skill set, mind set, expertise. Much of this requires some deep thought on the SWOT analysis and a detailed insight into the external environmental impacting the business.

In military terms the expression is Ready, Aim, Fire.

All too often I hear this – Ready, Fire, Anything happen?

What is your experience?

Call me on 0117 9047874 if you need any help with this aspect of your business