Target Market Ideas

Target Marketing is the recognition that a mass market is comprised of separate groups whose demographic and psychographic profiles differ.  A program to market to those segments would need to understand and capitalize on those differences and play them back to the targeted group. There are tonnes of Target Market Ideas that can be used to market your product.

The largest target market in marketing is one based on gender.  Age is another viable idea to use to target market.  The US population is aging.  If a product has a particular efficacy for older people real or manufactured, age can be used to segment the mass population into a more manageable group.

Target marketing offers a way for marketers to spend limited resources on targets that make the most sense from a product usage,  disposable income,  or geographic standpoint.

America’s ethnic groups including Latinos, African Americans and Asians are often segmented for targeting purposes.  Language is usually the rationale for why a company might want to do a separate marketing effort against Asians or Latinos.  Cultural and lifestyle might dictate that marketer segment out African Americans for special target initiatives.

Other Target Markets

A product with a higher price tag such certain cars, homes, and luxury goods might decide to reach higher income people and determine that professionals would make an ideal target.  Among professionals, the might find that doctors and lawyers are a better market for their product than say accountants or college professors.  While all are professionals, the income differences between the two groups could be profoundly different.

Defining a target audience by gender is usually the first step in determining an audience for a product.  An audience that broadly seeks to market to All Women might prove to be costly in terms of marketing outlay on that could be further refined by narrowing the definition of the target.

Women with children would narrow the All Women target market.  Women with children who live in the northwest, get the number down even further, for a luxury car dealer based in Seattle, Portland, and northern California.  Women with children living in the northwest who are doctors or lawyers define the group even further.  Using demographic data helps paint a finer picture of who your target is and is useful in the development of messaging such as advertising.

The first place to consult when doing an analysis on a target group is the US Census.  The government collects demographic information every 10 years and then publishes the basic data in all sorts of helpful reports related to nearly every aspect of consumer life.

Depending on the nature of the specific business and the growth goals of the business, defining one or more target consumer segments to direct marketing activities is an effective and efficient means of marketing.