A target market isn’t yet about “marketing strategies.” It’s just about knowing who you are communicating with.
You want to pinpoint the group that will listen and understand.
Who you are and what you stand for will inform you of who your clients are and help you communicate with them.
Beginning With Who You Are
Think about the questions you asked when developing your mission and identity.
- What kinds of services are you delivering?
- What qualities are most important for you to represent?
- What aspects are important to you?
- What aspects aren’t?
It might be that you want your customers to have access to a more ethically-sourced version of some product.
Perhaps you want your customers to have an unforgettable customer service experience, one that makes them feel special in a particular way.
Or maybe you want to be able to deliver the cheapest version of something that you feel people are paying more for than they need to.
All of these aspects will create an identity for your business. Certain of these important factors will rule out some values and naturally encompass others.
Whatever the case, being able to answer these questions is critical to discovering your target market. The choices you make with these options will inform you.
Discovering Your Target Market
In life, getting to know yourself can help you find the people you want to spend your life around. In a similar way, your target market is the group where your company belongs.
It’s your clan. All of those difficult questions you have to answer to find out what your business represents apply to who your business best serves.
You should share interests. Your target market will essentially reflect and enhance your company culture.
They play off each other and respect the same things. Your ideal customer will become obvious to you after you understand your business.
Your customer will find important what your company finds important. A target audience is the result of all of your decisions about all of the options available to your business.
Paying Attention
Look again at your answers to the questions about who you are. Each of those important factors will rule out some things and naturally, encompass others.
As the leader of your company, you will try to understand all that your business represents. On a practical level, you will be able to understand much of that, but not necessarily all.
The wonderful thing about understanding your target audience is that they can help you with this. Having a target audience may inform your mission and marketing.
You can learn from your audience to have more to offer them. You’re selling a feeling: make your clients feel at home or like they’re getting exactly what they want/need.
They feel comfortable because you understand them because you’re all after the same thing. They let you know what else they want, which aligns with what they’re already getting from you.
You can then cater to those other aspects of potential business.