Tweet

Ready, Aim, Fire! 3 Steps to Designing Your Targeted Marketing Plan

Written by: Traci Hayner Vanover

Article Overview: Target marketing is the strategy of focusing your marketing efforts on a distinct group of potential customers. When properly conceived, designed and implemented, target marketing can help increase customer satisfaction, improve brand loyalty and gain an edge over competitors.

Ready, Aim, Fire! 3 Steps to Designing Your Targeted Marketing Plan

Many small businesses fall prey to attempting to be all things to all people.

The reality is, no business will ever attract ALL the consumers; therefore, it stands to reason that we should focus our time, energy and resources on identifying a select group rather than trying to reach across the mass market. For this reason, it becomes important to pinpoint, as closely as possible, exactly who the potential buyers are. The process of identifying the most likely customers and creating a tailor-fit marketing campaign addressed exclusively for those potential customers is known as target marketing.

Target marketing is the strategy of focusing your marketing efforts on a distinct group of potential customers. When properly conceived, designed and implemented, target marketing can help increase customer satisfaction, improve brand loyalty and gain an edge over competitors.

Is it Really That Important?

The short answer is yes.

Consider mainstream corporate America. Early in my career, I worked for a large field office of a market research firm. Over the years, we surveyed consumers on a wide variety of items - from food items to perfumes, from cleaning products to alcoholic beverages and duct tape. We screened commercials, storyboards, print ads, slogans, and radio commercials. Our clients would fly in from all over the country to sit behind two-way glass just so they could get a glimpse into the minds of their target audience.

All this to say, big businesses know that the time they spend honing their message will save them time and expense when they introduce the product to the market. If a particular ad concept falls short of thier expectations, it is far easier to make changes in the early stages of production rather than when the ad is actually in print.

The same rules apply to small business owners.

When you conduct target marketing, it is critical that you fine-tune your product or service to meet the precise need of your chosen target market. Positioning your brand as the obvious choice for a particular niche can pay strong dividends. Becoming the "go to" expert in your field can provide the keystone to building a brand that stands out from the competition.

Best of all, once you have achieved this status - you will begin to see that you are gaining sales due to the merits of your product and reputation, and not strictly based upon price.

Get Ready

The steps that you take in the preparation of your marketing campaign are among the most crucial to its success. It is in this stage that you consider market segmentation - a process in which you divide the total market into distinct sub-groups of buyers who have distinct needs or wants, or are likely to respond differently to certain products or marketing mixes. Market segments are often defined by many different factors - geographic location, age, gender, socio-economic standings, and lifestyle preferences (i.e. pet owners, health-conscious consumers, etc.). In order to be able to drill down to the most specific demographics of your audience, it is imperative that you know WHO your customer is.

Taking Aim

Now that we have defined the market segment we wish to target, it's time to take aim. In this stage, we are evaluating the market segments we've identified in order to determine their potential. The attractiveness of a market segment is determined by factors such as its size, growth rate, current and potential competition, brand loyalty of current customers in the segment, projected market share, sales prospects and expected profitability in the segment. Based on the evaluation, one or more of the segments may be selected for your business to target. However, the final decision to zero-in on a particular market segment also depends largely on its suitability to the objectives, resources and capabilities of your home business.

Fire Off that Campaign!

The final step in the process involves designing a detailed and effective marketing mix that will resonate with and appeal to your chosen market segment. Your marketing efforts should be coordinated into a concerted effort to successfully reach your target buyers - and should strike a balance between pricing, distribution, promotions, and product specifications. Despite what media format your message is presented in, consumers will receive the same message. Knowing that consumers must be presented with your message on the average of seven times, the need to make those messages cohesive becomes much more evident. Likewise, the value of target marketing is enhanced - the identified market segments are more receptive, and tend to respond favorably to your marketing efforts.

Marketing without a plan is like winking at a pretty girl in the dark. You know what you're trying to achieve, but the object of your interest remains unaware.

In either case, despite the best of intentions, you're still going to miss the mark.

Related Articles
  Keep Your Fire Stoked
  LEADERS HAVE BLOOD GROUP OF FIRE POSITIVE.
  Are You Firing On Your Prospects In Your Quest to Increase Sales?
  E Mail Marketing Campaigns
  LEADERS LIVE WITH BLOOD GROUP OF ” FIRE POSITIVE.”

Article Tags: identifying your customer, marketing strategies, target audience, target marketing



Related Forum Posts
Starting a New Business - Congratulations on the first step of deciding to create your own business. First, you have to ascertain if you are going to be selling your products or services to people or to businesses. People purchase products and services for three basic reasons: •To satisfy basic needs •To solve problems •To make themselves feel good. You have to determine which of these three categories your product or service is the solution to. Businesses, unlike individuals, buy products and services for three reasons as well: •To increase revenues •To maintain the status quo •To decrease expenses. Knowing the reasons why people/businesses buy, you should have a picture emerging of who you think your "Target Market" (or ideal customer) is. Once you have zeroed in on your solution, you are ready to create your Marketing Strategy. If you look at any company that has grown rapidly over the past few years, (i.e. WestJet and Starbucks), it should demonstrate to you the importance of Marketing. In simple terms these companies have: •Clearly defined what makes them different; •Who their ideal customer is; •How to reach them; •Why customers should buy from them; •And most importantly why customers should come back again. It is strong Marketing Awareness that singles out the best companies. I can not stress enough how important it is to create a "living" Marketing Plan before you even start. I hope this helps a little in the creation of your plan. All the very best of luck. Remember: "A Goal without a Plan is just a Wish" Miles of Smiles, Marketing Maven
I could use some help with my Marketing Plan Objective - Hi guys, Well I'm off to the UK be back to work on April 10th. In the meantime, I could use some help. My Marketing Plan Objective is definitely not SMART. It doesn't have anything specific, or measurable, it is achievable, it is realistic and it is timed. You're help will be appreciated. Hope to tallk to you in April and see you in May. Judi
Re: Forum Upgrade - and Fire Fox for mac too
Business Innovation - Hi Simon If you can finish off the Business Plan and think about your strategic direction or how you are going to use your product to convince people it's a great idea, it will set the foundation for your programming project. You see, when you are looking for funding you will need a Business Plan and Strategic Plan that will convince companies to invest into your new idea. Has anyone achieved this idea before using another industry besides health and fitness that you know of? You should also design some mockups as a "preview" for your programming project. This will also help reduce your programming costs as everyone will know exactly what you want if you have detailed mockups already completed including any functionality you require. Starting mockups for websites and software applications on paper is the best way if you're not a guru in graphic editing software.
New Small Business Topic - Hello everyone, I'm on the lookout for new topics to add to my site. We just launched a Franchising section and are planning Human Resources section. Do you have any thoughts for a new section? Here's a list of what we currently have: Angel Investors Branding Bank Loans Business Coaching Business Plan Franchises (New) Insurance Legal Marketing Public Relations Sales Small Biz Loans Venture Capital


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Local Marketing: 3 Simple Low-Cost Strategies

What should your free giveaway be?

TRADE SHOW FOLLOW-UP: HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.