Identifying the Target Market

One of the first steps in selling is to identify the target market, who will be buying your product or service. Identifying this group will help your business tailor marketing efforts, in order to satisfy the needs of high potential customers. 

Why Can't Everyone Be My Customer?

It can feel safe to say that your product is "for everyone", and try to appeal to everyone at once, but the reality is that this tends to make marketing less effective. When you try to reach everyone, the message tends to fail to connect and becomes too general. 

 Businesses should start by focusing on a specific group first. This will make it easier to:

• Create a message that feels relevant

• Choose the right marketing channels

• Price appropriately

• Build loyalty and trust

As a business, you can always expand later. However, beginning with a focus on a specific group will lead to stronger results.

Target Audience Basics 

To figure out who your customer is, consider the following:

• Age 

• Location

• Income

• Interests or Habits

• Problems They Want to Solve: What problem are they experiencing that your product/service can fix?

To make this easier, you can build a customer persona, or an imaginary picture of who your ideal customer is. 

For Example: 

A 15 year old student in Austin who wants affordable tutoring for their Algebra I math class. 

The more specific you are, the easier it becomes to make decisions about marketing, pricing, and product design.