Many entrepreneurs and business owners want to believe that their products and services are “for everyone.” The truth is that not everyone is going to be interested or have a need for what they offer. This is why it is important for each business to know its target audience.
Narrowing the focus onto a specific set of the market allows a business to concentrate on selling to the people that are most likely to purchase its products. This can save a lot of wasted effort and money spent on trying to market to everyone.
The first step of any marketing plan is to identify that target audience. The description should not be broad and generic, but rather more specific and focused:
Who is your ideal customer?
- What do they look like?
- What do they do?
- Where do they live?
- What are they interested in?
- Where did they go to school?
- Where do they work?
- What is their income level?
- Do they have a family?
- What do they watch on television?
- Do they dine out and where?
- Why do they need your product or serviced?
Knowing exactly who they are selling to makes it easier for an entrepreneur to create an effective marketing plan. The more that is known about the current clients and the targeted customers, the better the business can understand where to spend marketing dollars as well as how to target the message.
Targeting Helps Tracking Your Return on Investment
Small businesses often cannot afford to track marketing ROI efficiently like large corporations do. Mass advertise their products or services can be a costly mistake.
Many businesses find it is difficult to track the return on investment when advertising when it is done on a large scale for several reasons. Often, the business doesn’t have the resources either financially or in man-power to understand truly where the customer found the product or serve.
Narrowing the focus and target a specific audience makes it is easier to track what is being spent and how much business is being brought in because of specific marketing.
A business owner who knows who they are trying to reach, where their customer lives on a day to day basis — both virtually and physically — makes choosing the marketing vertical and the message easier resulting in conversion. Targeted marketing becomes makes sure that the right customers are getting the message in order to purchase the products and services they need.