What is a target market?

A target market is a demographic most likely to purchase a product due to their age, income, and lifestyle commonalities. When designing, packaging, and advertising a firm’s product, determining its target market is one of its most important decisions.

How do I identify the target market for my product?

Thinking about the customers who will desire a new product is part of the creation process.

A new product has to address a need, a problem, or both. That necessity or issue usually only happens every day once it gets to the point where indoor plumbing is involved. More likely, a segment of customers—vegetarians concerned about the environment, scientific geeks, or outdoor enthusiasts—need it. It may appeal to a middle-aged professional, a youngster, a snob, or a bargain shopper.

Since you develop and refine a product, consider your probable target market, since this will help you choose its positioning, packaging, and marketing.

Which Four Target Markets Are There?

Marketing professionals identify four main subgroups of customers:

Demographic: Your target market is mainly defined by these attributes. It is possible to categorize people into groups based on their age, gender, income, employment, and educational attainment.

Geographic: In the age of globalization, this section is becoming increasingly important. One must consider preferences specific to a region.

Psychographic: This section considers lifestyle, attitudes, interests, and values in addition to the standard demographics.

Behavioral: This is the only market that depends on studying the choices made by a business’s present clientele. Research on the demonstrated popularity of previous items may be used to inform the introduction of new ones.

What Constitutes a Target Market, Exactly?

A new product’s target client may be identified using any of the four target markets. For instance, it’s believed that there are 100,000 Italian restaurants in the United States. They are appealing.

But a corner pizza establishment may cater more—though not exclusively—to younger, more cost-conscious customers. At the same time, local families and older people might frequent an old-fashioned restaurant with white tablecloths. On the other hand, a more recent establishment nearby could attract a sophisticated and fashion-forward clientele willing to drive a considerable distance to experience its inventive food and sophisticated wine selection.

In every successful example, an astute businessperson carefully studied the restaurant’s ideal target demographic and then modified the food, interior design, and advertising tactics to cater to that market.

What makes target markets crucial?

Nowadays, only some things are made to appeal to every consumer. The Aveda Rosemary Mint Bath Bar targets the sophisticated, environmentally concerned lady willing to spend more on superior products. It costs $23 per bar at Aveda beauty shops.

At $110 a bar, Cle de Peau Beaute Synactif Soap is marketed to affluent, style-savvy women prepared to shell out more money for high-end goods.

Dial soap is known to be effective and is available on Amazon for less than $5 for an eight-pack.

Knowing who will be attracted to a product or service and who will eventually purchase it is part of selling. With more promotion, advertising, and word-of-mouth, its user base may expand.

For this reason, companies invest a great deal of time and resources in identifying their first target audiences and promoting them via targeted advertising, social media campaigns, and special offers.

Market Segments: What Are They?

Segmenting a target market puts people into groups based on the main traits influencing their purchasing choices. Gender, age, wealth, race, education, religion, marital status, and place of residence are a few of these.

Narrowing the groups is crucial for identifying target markets since consumers with similar demographics appreciate similar goods and services.

For instance, those with more income may be more inclined to purchase specialized coffee from Starbucks than Dunkin’ Donuts. To choose where to put their shops, where to stock their items, and where to promote their brands, the parent corporations of these two brands must be aware of this.

A company may have more than one target market: a smaller but potentially larger secondary target market in addition to the primary target market, which serves as the company’s primary emphasis. Children are the primary target audience for toy ads. The secondary market is their parents.

Market Segmentation and Product Sales

A product development strategy must include planning for production, distribution, pricing, advertising, and identifying the target market. EssentialThe target market decides on essential aspects of the product itself. To better appeal to customers in its target market, a firm may change certain product features, such as the quantity of sugar in a soft drink or the design of the package.

A corporation may broaden its target market worldwide as sales of its products increase. A business may access a more significant segment of its target market in different parts of the globe by expanding internationally.

When a company’s goods become more popular in the market, it may discover that its local target market grows in addition to expanding internationally. Increasing the target market for a product is a worthwhile revenue opportunity.

How Specific Does a Target Market Be?

It varies. In general, a product may be made for the mass market or a niche market, and in the early stages of a product’s introduction, a niche market might consist of a minimal number of people.

Certain carbonated drinks aim for a nearly global consumer base. Coca-Cola needs to expand into 200 international markets to maintain its client base.

Despite being a Pepsi-Cola product, Gatorade promotes itself as an athletic beverage.

Claiming to be a “Healthy, Sparkling, Prebiotic Soda with Real Fruit Juice, Gut Health, and Immunity Benefits,” Poppi is a soda company targeting a younger, healthier, and more fashion-conscious demographic.

What Constitutes a Target Market, Exactly?

Let us consider a casual clothing firm attempting to expand its international distribution network. Through research, it identifies its core target market to ascertain where its clothes will be most successful. It finds that middle-class women who reside in cold areas and are between the ages of 35 and 55 are the most likely to purchase their items.

It makes sense for the business to concentrate its advertising budget on websites with a large female readership in northern Europe.

However, the business may first consider how to best appeal to that target demographic with its clothing. It can change its advertising approach, styles, and colors to maximize its appeal to this new potential clientele.

Why is a target market important?

A product is defined by its target market and vice versa.

Once a target market has been determined, it might impact a product’s distribution, pricing, design, packaging, and advertising.

A product meant for guys isn’t wrapped in pink plastic. A drugstore won’t sell a high-end cosmetic. A shoebox and a branded fabric drawstring bag are included with a high-end pair of shoes. The target market receives signals from each element, indicating they chose the correct product.

The Final Word

A new product’s development process includes determining its target market. A target market is the kind of customer profile a product will most likely appeal to. The profile considers the individual’s demographic, regional, psychographic, and behavioral traits.

Conclusion

• A target market is a subset of consumers who have been determined to be the most likely to purchase a company’s product or service due to similar demographics.
• The creation and execution of any new product’s successful marketing strategy depend on identifying the target market.
• The target market may influence a product’s distribution, packaging, and characteristics.