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Hit the Bull’s Eye With Niche Marketing

How To Identify Your Target Market

You know how a target looks, with outer rings that get smaller and smaller as they get closer to the middle, towards the bull’s eye? Identifying your niche, your target market, is like aiming for the bull’s eye. When you can narrow down the common traits your customers share, the closer you’ll get to “hitting the mark” with your promotional efforts.

The key then, is to figure out what characteristics your potential customers share that make them more likely to buy your particular product or service. It isn’t enough to simply identify “women” as your customers because not every woman on the planet is going to need or want what you’re selling. To find your target customers, you need to look at which segment of the marketplace they’re coming from.

Types of Market Segments

There are five basic types of market segments which define the shared characteristics of the people in that segment:

1. Demographic Segment.
This population is defined by measurable statistics such as: age, gender, income, occupation, etc. An example of a demographic segment would be work-at-home moms between the ages of 25 and 40 who earn less than $30,000 annually.

2. Psychographic Segment.
These are people who share lifestyle preferences such as: city dwellers, opera lovers, bicyclists, etc.

3. Use-Based Segment.
The people who make up this segment can be identified by frequency of usage such as: travelers, video game fanatics, movie buffs, etc.

4. Benefit Segment.
These are people who desire to obtain the same benefit such as: fitness, budget-minded, vegetarian, weight loss, luxury, etc.

5. Geographic Segment.
Their location, such as: home address or business address, identifies the people in a geographic area.

By identifying the people within your target segment, you can plan the most cost-effective marketing strategies that aim your efforts only at them. For example, if you’re a real estate appraiser or a roofer, you’ll want to focus your direct mail efforts on home owners, not apartment dwellers.

Likewise, if you’ve identified the people in your target market as young couples with small children, you can direct your advertising toward mainly family-friendly venues such as TV programs for children, or bulletin boards at day care centers and elementary schools.

You’ll score much higher with your niche marketing efforts when you keep the target customer in sight.