How to select a target market?

The word target market is something you must have heard multiple times over in any business related conversation or article, and with good reason because it is arguably one of the most important aspects of any business, but before we get into the thick of things, what is a target market?

A target market is essentially a segment of the market (usually differentiated based on socio economic factors) that a business is focused on providing goods and services to.

Targeting a specific market segment does not mean the people who do not come under it are ignored but rather that they are given lesser priority to, so it goes without saying that identifying a target audience will ensure much greater efficiency as well as accelerated results (considering that the efforts are more or less concentrated on the market segment that is most lucrative for your particular product or service).

How to identify the target audience for your brand?

This step obviously is one that requires a great deal of introspection and self-questioning. Some questions you should consider answering at this stage are:

• Which market segment is going to be most benefited by this product
• What are the characteristics of this product
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of it
• Who would these advantages make a huge difference to
• Who would these advantages make a little difference to
• Who would be completely disinterested in this product
• Who can afford this product

Answering these questions will go a long way and accelerate the process of you identifying the specific target audience. Moreover in today’s day and age where there is a growing presence of highly specific and niche markets there is a decent scope of ascertaining your target market with great precision. The accuracy of your answers to the aforementioned questions is directly proportional to the ideal market segment you should be targeting. (You can also target multiple target markets simultaneously).

Strategies for selecting target markets. There is definitely an effective method to go about this process so here are some steps you can take to employ for your target market selection process:

• Consider your customer base: Before any further decision can be taken it is important to draw conclusions from the current scenario and that includes who your current customer base is? What are their preferences, likes, and dislikes? How much they value the product etc. This step will equip you with the information you will need to form conclusions and decisions on. An important thing to note during this process is to achieve a high accuracy with the observation so the same is reflected in the conclusion.
• Scout out your competition A good way to gain insight is always by scouting out the competition, this allows you to learn by observation rather than expensive experiences. This could be a great way to learn who similar products are catering to, if not anything this will narrow down the market segment for you and sure fire eliminate certain segments of the market
• Evaluate your product or service thoroughly This process involves you analyzing your product or service thoroughly, not just from your perspective but also from a consumer’s perspective (because they will be  the ones spending money on it and using it, at least that is the hope) This will let you accurately gauge how the product is perceived and what the value of it is according to the audience
• Do not be afraid to pick a specific demographic to target Once all the variables have been ascertained do not be afraid to take the plunge and indulge in an extremely specific demographic because niche products and services are on the rise now and have known to perform extremely well
• Evaluate the psychographics of your target market Examining the psychographics of the demographic you have picked will allow you to further cater to it in a more specific and effective way, thus ensuring your product is fairly irreplaceable
• Analyze your decision and also your results based on it The final and non negotiable step of this process is to always analyze your decisions and constantly evaluate them and the results they lead to. Favorable outcomes are more often than not a result of squitter thinking and an appropriate amount of analysis.

On a concluding note, it is of paramount importance to state that ascertaining the target audience is one of the most important things a brand could do, the earlier this is done the more advantageous it could prove. It is obvious that this step is one that requires a great deal of research, analysis, as well as evaluation but that is owing to the importance it carries. Moreover, there are plenty of free resources on the internet that walk you through the whole process so it does not get too daunting.