Guide to Target Marketing

Streamline your sales effort by pitching to niches

By Toni Klym McLellan, Freelance Writer & Editor, Toni Writes

Targeting a specific type of customer allows your company to:

1. Plan marketing initiatives more effectively.
2. Allocate marketing dollars more efficiently.
3. Hone in on and eliminate sales tactics that aren't working.
4. Learn more about your customers' preferences and habits for use in future promotions.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Understand the basics

The key to target marketing is identifying the market groups most likely to buy your product or service and focusing a laser beam of marketing mojo in their direction. Breaking that target market into sub-specialties is known as 'segmentation,' which allows for even more efficient direct marketing.

I recommend: Apply market segmentation to your business with this checklist from the Center for Business Planning.

Use technology for DIY target marketing

Small companies and entrepreneurs can target-market to customers themselves. It takes a willingness to learn the basics of targeting customers and develop a solid plan for learning more about and addressing customer needs and preferences.

I recommend: MapInfo offers "location intelligence" software and data to allow you to target customers yourself using geographic information. Claritas also offers ConsumerPoint software for segmenting and targeting markets.

Hire professionals

Save time and stay focused on your core business by outsourcing your target marketing.

I recommend: Agencyfinder.com allows you to search for a marketing firm based on size, location, and/or need. Professional organization The New York American Marketing Association publishes its GreenBook directory of marketing research firms is available online and via CD-ROM.

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Pay attention to what similar firms are doing in terms of direct marketing and advertising to their customers.
• •  Customer surveys – even brief ones – can tell you a great deal about their preferences. Asking 'How did you hear about us?' with every online or telephone order could help you hone in on ways to market in the future.
• •  Examining your best selling product or service is a good way to 'back door' target market research. Study the people who buy your most popular products and determine how to more effectively sell to them.
• •  Consider a test run campaign to a smaller market segment before doing a complete overhaul of your marketing initiatives.
• •  Targeting via segmentation holds nearly endless possibilities: age, gender, income, geography, etc.
• •  Utilize local chambers of commerce and marketing or other industry trade associations to find market data in core customers' communities.