Target Markets = Important. Image from The Wamp It

I once worked with a client who was very, very passionate about her product – as she should be – it was her baby, after all. This did, however, make it very difficult for her to look objectively at her business and what our marketing direction should be.

Basically, she believed that “everyone” would want what she was selling and “everyone” should be targeted.

To be clear, her product was not one of those universal desires like “air” or “freedom” or “Skittles.” It most definitely was not the sort of thing “everyone” wanted or could afford. As her marketer, it was my tough job to guide her through the process and develop a plan that would actually be effective.

Even if you think your product is more revolutionary than the iPod, it’s important to identify your best possible customers and speak to them fairly directly (in fact, you should have this customer in mind when you’re developing your product, not just the promotion). Your ROI (return on investment) and CPA (cost per acquisition) depend on it. In the case of the iPod, Apple very clearly went after a key demographic (young adults, music-oriented, trend followers, early tech adopters). Even though everyone from my dad to the eight-year old next door now has an iPod, Apple’s identification of a core market early on lead to mainstream success.

Here’s the thing: Just because you focus on a target market does not mean you’re limiting your earning potential nor does it mean you’re ostracizing other markets (provided you’re smart about it – the Pepsi “Before You Score” App is an example of burning a bridge to other demographics). There is always trickle into other markets, especially if your brand has buzz and your early adapters are influencers. Setting your sights on a target market is the cornerstone of putting in place your marketing plan – be it the language used in your content marketing, SEO techniques, markets you buy ads in, types of social media you use and images or messages you convey.

Trying to appeal to everyone will result in a big generic blob of a campaign – and a lot of frustration. If you’re not sure how to identify a target audience for your business or product or how to use content marketing to reach them, speak with a marketing agency or stay tuned for more marketing tips and insight.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 2:52 pm and is filed under Content Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.