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How to Target
Your Most Profitable Market
By Michel Fortin
If you already solve a
specific problem, then targeting your market as much as possible should be
the obvious next step. However, this is where many marketers fail, for they
are trying to be "all things to all people" and attempt to market their
product to everyone. Instead, try to discover the demographics and
psychographics of your niche -- your specific (or greatest) market. Then
market to that audience more than any other and as often as possible.
Demographics are the basic
qualities and characteristics of your market. They include age, gender,
culture, employment, industry, income level, marital status, location, and
so on. Does your product cater uniquely to women? Is it more appealing to a
specific industry? Does your product complement another type of product? Is
your market mostly made up of French Canadians?
In other words, who buys
from you specifically? If you were to say “everyone,” then you are
falling in the trap mentioned earlier. Avoid it as much as you can. Try to
be as specific as possible. But if you do cater to a diverse market, find
out who buys from you the most or the most often.
On the other hand,
psychographics are made up of the emotional and behavioral qualities of your
market. They include the emotions, reasoning, history, psychology, and
thought processes behind people's decision to buy your product. For example,
they include interests, hobbies, associations to which they belong, previous
purchases, other related products your market has consumed, and length of
time they remained with a particular company.
Intelligence
Gathering
In other words,
demographics include the segment of the population that needs your
product, while psychographics are those within your demographics that
want your product. If you don’t know this, you can easily conduct a
survey as part of a marketing research campaign among your current clients,
potential clients and clients of other similar products or companies. Don’t
underestimate your greatest source for marketing research -- clients!
For example, here’s a list
of questions you should ask them:
 | Why did your clients buy
your product? If not, why not? |
| Why did they buy from
you or your competitor specifically? |
| Why did they not buy
from you or the competition? |
| Why did they buy from
you at that specific point in time? |
| Why did they buy right
away (on impulse) or took their time? |
| If they shopped around,
why did they? Where did they go? |
| What do they like the
most and the least about the product? |
| Would they refer you to
others? Why? If not, why not? |
| What specific benefits
do they see in your product? |
| What specific benefits
do they see in your competitor’s product? |
| And so on. |
These are immensely
important questions that can help you, guide you, or even cause you to
change your approach altogether. Don’t discount the power of doing marketing
research, especially within your own backyard. You want to know not only who
buys from you but, more important, why they do. In other words, think
psychographics and not just demographics.
Target Your Market
To illustrate the
difference between demographics and psychographics, hair transplant doctors
cater mainly to men who have experienced hair loss and are able to afford
such an operation — i.e., men and bald men specifically are potential
patients because they may need of more hair. Psychographics, on the other
hand, go a little further. In this example, they are comprised of men who
not only need but also want more hair -- since not all of them do. (It’s a
matter of priorities, just as the type of clothing one chooses to wear).
Therefore, in order to
target this market as precisely as possible and thus generate better leads,
doctors must take the psychographic element into account, such as their
patients’ lifestyle, their interests, the type of industry in which they
work (since certain industries are image-related), as well as their previous
buying habits (such as men who have already invested in other forms of hair
replacement solutions) -- the more information the better.
Nevertheless, arm yourself
with as much of this type of information beforehand and your chances of
achieving greater success with your product will be virtually guaranteed.
While you can’t be everything to everyone, you shouldn’t be targeting
everyone for everything.
Related
Articles:
Narrow Your Focus to Broaden Your Sales
Today's rapidly changing,
technology-driven marketplace mandates a sharper marketing aim.
If your business doesn't have one, you're going to either have a
really tough time or require a huge marketing budget.
How to Carve
Your Niche in the Marketplace
Trying to find and
sell clients is becoming an increasingly difficult endeavor. What is a better, more effective,
approach to generate good quality prospects? A solution to this
dilemma is to generate leads (not clients) that are already pre-qualified
and pre-sold, even before prospects are marketed to.
How To Create A Niche - And Grow Rich!
A niche fills an unmet customer need. Niches are at the heart of every successful industry, business, product, or service.
Niche marketing is the opposite of mass (general) marketing. It targets specific people with specialized needs.
Niches are what build industries, businesses, and jobs.
Michel Fortin is a master copywriter
and consultant dedicated to turning businesses into powerful magnets. Get a
FREE copy of his book, "The 10 Commandments of Power Positioning," and
subscribe to his FREE monthly ezine, "The Profit Pill," by visiting
http://SuccessDoctor.com/
now!
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