How To Identify Your Target Market and Target Audience in 2023 for Growth

How To Identify Your Target Market and Target Audience in 2023:

Whom are you trying to reach? Who is your intended audience? Why?

You might get into a lot of problems if you don’t have highly detailed responses to these questions.

Furthermore, you’re in much more danger, my buddy, if you responded with something like “we target everyone” or “we cater to a wide range of people.”

Because if you aim for everyone, you’re really aiming for nobody. You cannot satisfy everyone’s needs in one way.

I understand what you’re thinking, though: “But Tom, what about Amazon? They go after everyone on the planet!”

I’ll put this to rest now.

Between 1994 and 1998, Amazon only offered book sales. And even then, they only conducted it online, which in 1994 had a very specialised audience.

To put it another way, Amazon had a very clear and targeted target market.

Good Ol’ Jeff didn’t start growing until four years after putting in a lot of effort to build a prosperous company. Amazon has earned the right to target everyone today, 24 years later.

Not at all.

Amazon as it is right now is not you. You must start tiny, just like Jedi Bezos, and you are Amazon as it was 24 years ago.

How?

You will discover who the target audience is in this post. Additionally, I’ll demonstrate how to pinpoint the market that your company must concentrate on in order to succeed.

Hold on.

Target Market is defined as.

A target market is a narrowly focused group of customers that a business intends to serve with its goods and services.

When creating new products, services, and the marketing campaigns used to promote them, determining the target market is a crucial first step.

In addition, a target market frequently includes a product or service’s final consumers.

Peter F. Drucker, a renowned consultant, once said that the goal of marketing is to know and understand the customer to the point that the product or service suits him and sells itself.

It is crucial to comprehend this.

You must develop goods, services, and marketing strategies targeting a certain, clearly defined demographic in order to stand out from the competition.

Because, otherwise? They will, at best, be subpar goods or services that fall short of your clients’ expectations.

But more like, nobody will purchase them.

There is only one winning method, as marketing expert Philip Kotler has stated. To precisely define the target market and target it with a better offering.

Geographical, demographic, and psychographic factors can all be used to divide up this target market.

Let’s examine a case in point.

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Example of a Target Market

The most valuable fast food brand in the world, McDonald’s, is a great example of marketing that targets specific demographics.

McDonald’s has expanded to serve a variety of markets and customers, but they have developed specific goods and marketing strategies for each group.

For instance, young children are one of their primary target customers. They offer play spaces, happy meals with toys, and advertising campaigns using Ronald McDonald and Disney characters for this sector.

McDonald’s has consistently maintained the highest fast food market share in the United States because to aggressive pricing and targeted marketing.

However, everything is always evolving.

McDonald’s sales have been declining recently, and they have been forced to adapt to changes in their target market.

Let’s examine what occurred.

The millennial generation, which is infatuated with avocados, eclipsed Baby Boomers in 2016 to overtake them as the largest generation in the U.S. They worry more about healthy food than earlier generations did.

McDonald’s revised its offerings in reaction to this shift in their intended customer base.

Because of this, McDonald’s now offers a variety of fresher, healthier menu items as well as more expensive coffee products.

Up next:

What is a Target Audience?

“Target audience” has a more specific meaning than “target market.” It specifically refers to the consumer demographic that marketing messaging targets.

A target audience is “a group that has great potential to respond positively to a brand message,” according to advertising expert Tom Duncan.

Your target audience is the group you want to focus your marketing efforts on, whether or not they are the final consumers of your product.

You must comprehend who your target audience is and what their actual wants and preferences are in order to interact with them effectively.

Why?

Because, in the words of Robert G. Allen, “no matter what your product is, you are ultimately in the education business.” “Your clients need to be continuously educated about the various benefits of doing business with you, trained to utilise your products more efficiently, and taught how to create never-ending improvements in their lives,” the author writes.

Additionally, keep in mind the words of author and marketing guru Orvel Ray Wilson: “Clients buy for their reasons, not yours.”

Let’s go back to the McDonald’s illustration from before.

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Example of a Target Audience

Children are one of McDonald’s primary target groups, yet there is a significant issue with this market: Children lack any purchasing power.

In other words, it’s the adults in their life who purchase McDonald’s goods, not the kids themselves.

So, in order to cater to its target demographic of children, McDonald’s created the Happy Meal. However, they produce Happy Meal advertising with parents as their target market.

The below marketing video makes this very apparent.

The advertisement emphasises issues that parents care about but that youngsters aren’t interested in: For instance, “no artificial colours, flavours, or preservatives,” and philanthropic contributions.

What matters most to children?

clearly the toy! However, this is barely mentioned toward the end of the video.

Children may be McDonald’s target market for Happy Meals, but they are unquestionably not the intended audience.

The Principal Differences Between the Target Market and the Target Audience

Target market and target audience are phrases that are interchangeable and similar. But there are significant variations between them, largely because of how each one will actually affect your company.

A small business’s target market influences every choice it makes.

To satisfy the demands and preferences of the target market, products and services are created. Target market appeal is considered when making packaging and pricing choices. And the way sales are done is based on how the target markets like to shop.

A target audience only affects choices regarding particular marketing messages, though.

Target audiences may or may not include the end consumer of a good or service, but target markets typically do.

Target markets and target audiences may overlap.

It frequently happens that the target market and target audience of a marketing message are the same.

A yoga leggings company might choose single women between the ages of 24 and 34 who regularly frequent gyms and have a demonstrated interest in yoga as its target market.

Target markets and target audiences may overlap.

It frequently happens that the target market and target audience of a marketing message are the same.

A yoga leggings company might choose single women between the ages of 24 and 34 who regularly frequent gyms and have a demonstrated interest in yoga as its target market.

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Target markets and target audiences may overlap.

It frequently happens that the target market and target audience of a marketing message are the same.

A yoga leggings company might choose single women between the ages of 24 and 34 who regularly frequent gyms and have a demonstrated interest in yoga as its target market.

The target market and audience in this instance will be the same.

The target market is something that marketers can focus on more, though. The use of Instagram advertising, for instance, may be chosen by marketers to reach their target audience.

Therefore, the target market may now be further classified as Instagram users who follow accounts like Yoga Girl and Yoga Inspiration, have recently made online purchases, reside in Portland, Oregon, and value fair trade goods.

Okay, now let’s talk about why targeting is so crucial to success.

The Importance of Targeting

The greatest approach to capture more fish, in the opinion of many, is to cast a large net.

The best fishermen, however, are those who plan their catch of fish in advance. They design their nets with fish of this particular size in mind. They also are fully aware of the whereabouts of these fish and when to tactically set up their nets to capture them.

Because of this, tailored commercials typically have a nearly two-fold increase in effectiveness over non-targeted ones.

A magnifying glass that concentrates the sun’s rays can be used to identify well defined target markets and target audiences.

It’s challenging to address a generic 35-year-old working middle-class mother of two, according to Elizabeth Gardner. “It’s much simpler to tailor a message to Jennifer, who has two children under four, works as a paralegal, and is always seeking for quick but healthy dinners, as well as methods to spend more time with her children and less time on housework.”

Every component of a good or service can be precisely customised to a target market whose wants and preferences have been identified. Customers will be immensely pleased as a consequence, and they will provide great comments.

A marketing campaign can also be carefully designed to appeal to the interests, emotions, and worldviews of the target audience if it has a clearly defined target audience.

Higher conversion rates and the development of a stronger brand are both possible if you know how to craft marketing messages that actually connect with your target market.

Because nobody reads advertisements, as Howard Gossage, a real-life Mad Men influence, put it. What interests people they read. It may be an advertisement.

That’s not all, though.

According to Ray Velez, CTO of Razorfish, targeting also lets marketers to “advantage of the vast deluge of data that the digital era has turned on to get better outcomes from digital marketing.”

And there is a tonne of data.

The targeting skills of modern digital marketing tools can astound you after just five minutes of Facebook ad creation.

How then do you access this power?

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How to Determine Your Market Size

Let’s look at how to identify the market segments you should be focusing on now that you are clear on what your target markets and target audiences are.

Step 1: Determine the primary benefit that your company offers

If you do this correctly, your ideal target market should become clear.

Start by fulfilling the wants and desires of your clients, which is the desired outcome.

According to marketer Philip Kotler, “authentic marketing is not the art of selling what you do but rather of recognising what to make.” It is the skill of recognising and comprehending client needs and coming up with solutions that satisfy customers, benefit producers, and benefit stakeholders.

You must be able to respond to the following inquiries in great detail:

• What issue do you address?
• Which need do you fulfil?
• What want do you satisfy, then?

People don’t want to purchase a quarter-inch drill, as economist and Harvard professor Theodore Levitt memorably remarked. They wish to purchase a 1/4-inch hole.

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Features explain. Benefits convince.
Therefore, avoid using phrases like “we sell home exercise equipment online” to describe what you do or how you do it.

Instead, state the benefits you offer to your clients, such as, “We assist people in losing weight and becoming active, which helps to enhance their sense of empowerment and confidence. Additionally, we assist them in using fitness equipment they can easily purchase online while doing it in the privacy of their own homes, where they won’t feel self-conscious.

The initial iPod advertisement is a fantastic illustration of a business marketing the advantages of a product rather than its characteristics.

The ability of the iPod to store 1GB of MP3 files was its key selling point.

Apple, however, did not advertise this capability. They instead emphasised the advantage that this feature offered: You can carry 1,000 tunes with you.

Who needs your product or service the most should be reasonably clear once you’ve discovered the advantages of what you do.

The target demographic in the Apple case is evidently early adopters of new technologies, who have a sizable music library, and who enjoy listening to music while on the go.

By testing the device with smaller groups of individuals who fall under these fundamental guidelines, Apple may then go deeper into their target market.

Whose wants or needs are you gratifying?

Are you assisting overweight middle-aged guys in losing weight? Do you assist senior citizens with garden upkeep? Do you provide young dads cooking utensils to help them save time in the kitchen?

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Step 2: Refine Your Target Market

You need to now have a fundamental comprehension of people your product or service advantages. The market sector you want to target needs to be further defined from here.

Be as detailed as you can.

Define your target market’s demographics first.

A demographic is merely a subset of the population. Demographics like age, location, gender, marital or family status, occupation, income level, level of education, etc. can be used to segment your target market.

Determine the psychographics of the individuals who will most likely profit from your product or service next.

The psychological characteristics of consumers, such as their attitudes, values, interests, way of life, and behaviour, are known as psychographics.

After completing this, your buyer persona need to be precisely defined.

Visit Shopify’s “How To Build Buyer Personas For Better Marketing” guide for more information on developing buyer personas.

Step 3: Maintain Your Focus

The hardest aspect of the procedure is probably this.

It might be quite challenging to refrain from making assumptions. Furthermore, a lot of people unknowingly look for, remember, and interpret data in a way that supports their preconceived notions or ideas. Confirmation bias is the term for this.

If you don’t take care, this prejudice can completely undermine any efforts you make to identify your target market and target audience, which might be disastrous for your company.

And it frequently occurs like this.

In reality, 42% of businesses fail for reasons other than a lack of finance, according to CB Insights, such as a lack of market demand.

In other words, they fail because the business owners behind them are so fervently committed to their good or service that they neglect to confirm whether or not the market actually has a demand for it.

Businesses also make the error of conducting a lot of research but little actual testing.

Research is forward-looking. Testing is evidence.

How many people tell you they would utilise your product or service is irrelevant. Even the number of people who claim they would purchase your good or service is irrelevant.

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Only the number of customers who actually purchase your good or service is important.

Therefore, avoid asking them if they enjoy or would buy your product. Make a minimum viable product (MVP) and offer it to them right away.

The only way to be certain whether there is a genuine market need is to do it.

Bottom line: Unless clearly demonstrated otherwise, assume your target market has no interest in your company, brand, goods, or services.

Step 4: Assess Your Market Segments

You must confirm if this is a market worth serving now that you have accurate knowledge of the people you intend to sell to.

Think about the following:

• Is the target market large enough to support our company?
• Has this market segment the resources to purchase our good or service?
• Will they make repeat purchases, or will we have to turn away new clients all the time?
• Is this market segment subject to a lot of competition?
• Why is that if there isn’t?
• If so, what makes us unique from the competition and why should buyers choose us?
• How reachable is this market as a whole?

Again, research is only going to go you so far. You must design real-world tests that involve genuine interaction with your potential target market if you want to definitively respond to these queries.

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Summary

Any firm that wants to succeed over the long haul needs to have clearly defined target markets and target audiences.

Using a scattergun strategy will only get you so far, and that’s if you can even get past the starting line.

Therefore, put effort into figuring out who your company serves and why they should care. And keep in mind that testing is the only reliable method of determining who you should target.

Make sure that your items or services meet the demands or aspirations of your target market once you’ve identified it. Then specify your target audience—the particular demographic you intend to address with your marketing message.

A tiny business will perish if it casts a wide net, so keep that in mind. So be precise.

What is the one major advantage that your company offers to customers? Let us know by leaving a comment below!