Target Marketing: Narrow Your Focus To Strengthen Your Reach

Targeting seems to be a big buzzword in business these days. What does “target your buying audience” really mean and how do you go about actually doing it? To target means to zero in on a select group of consumers that are more likely to purchase your product or services. It means understanding the dynamics of your product and the type of person who would be best served by owning it.

Everyone in the world is not going to be interested in what you’re offering. By accepting this true statement from the start, you will save yourself from wasting time or money and achieve much better results with your advertising campaigns.

Why is that?

Well, if you spend considerable amounts of time trying to convince uninterested consumers to buy your product, you’re missing the greater opportunity to sell the people who are interested in making a purchase. So, focusing on those who are interested is tackling the prospect. Focusing on the entire marketplace is merely presenting your offer. One brings money from sales into your pocket, while the other wastes hard earned dollars. Which would you prefer?

Let’s use an example of baby clothes. Certainly the entire population is not interested in baby clothes. A better target to aim for would be the female gender. But then again, not every woman is expecting a baby either. So you narrow your focus down to married women. A little better… but there are certainly a great share of married women that have either finished having their babies or are simply not interested having babies at all. Then the most obvious focus would be pregnant women or new mothers. That’s targeting your real buying audience. Narrowing your focus is the name of the game. This is the one area of business when having a narrow mind will actually be profitable for you!

Looking For Prospects

So, how do you find them? Those people in your narrow niche group that would love to be presented with your product or service? You must get into their minds. Try to think how they think. Let’s use the pregnant woman scenario again. Who will she be associating with? What will she be doing? Where will she be hanging out? When will she be available?

• A pregnant woman sees an OBYN, so handing out flyers to these doctors to give to patients would be valuable.
• The expectant mother will shop the baby sections at stores, so selling wholesale to these outlets would be a possibility for you to consider.
• She will go to the hospital to have her baby, so give something to place into the “going home pack” that will direct her back to your business.
• The new parent will want to learn about raising children, so advertise in a parent magazine or guide to reach her.
• She will most likely join online groups that support parenthood, so join the groups and be helpful.

Get the idea?

You must think like your target market and mine this audience out of the masses in order to communicate with them. The more helpful you are in making their lives easier, the more profitable your business will become. Just remember to narrow your focus to strengthen your reach. You’ll gain much better results from your advertising campaigns and uncover your real buying audience in the process.

What do you think? Please comment and tell me, thanks!