Don’t you just love when your business hits its stride? The growth is palpable, customers are happy, and things are clicking along without a hitch. But as any savvy business person knows, maintaining this success is an ongoing battle. It’s all too easy to become complacent and let things slide.
So what’s the key to continuing on the path of success? Constant vigilance — and a targeted marketing strategy! Here we’ll take a look at some of the most popular target marketing strategies out there and how you can use them to fuel your business growth.
What Are Target Marketing Strategies?
Target marketing strategies are techniques that entail choosing a specific audience as your target market and then creating advertising campaigns made specifically for them. This can be done in various ways, but the goal is always to reach the target audience and increase revenue.
In target marketing, you take your business to the customers you think are most likely to use your products or need your services. These customers are often referred to as your “Target Audience.”
For example, if you were selling a new kind of baby formula, you would target marketing to parents with infants. You would not market the same product to teenagers or senior citizens. This is because marketing to parents with infants is significantly more effective than marketing to anyone. Of course, placing your baby formula on sale at the local grocery store to have it sold to a random set of individuals would bring sales, but it’s not very efficient.
Target marketing strategy is not a new marketing concept. It has been around for many years, and small businesses and large corporations use it. Your business can join that list of successful businesses implementing this concept.
How do you go about it? Before we go into that, let’s talk about different target marketing strategies.
Types Of Target Marketing Strategies
There are various forms of targeted marketing strategies that businesses can utilize. However, a company’s choice of strategy will be influenced by various factors, such as the goods or services they provide, its budget, and its target market.
Asides from this, businesses must decide whether they will concentrate on one or a small number of segments or serve the mass market when choosing their target markets. The decision they make at this point will define their positioning strategy and marketing mix.
Below, we list and discuss
- Undifferentiated marketing/Mass marketing
- Differentiated marketing/Segment marketing
- Niche marketing/Concentrated marketing
- Micro marketing
Undifferentiated Marketing
This is also called “Mass marketing.” It is a marketing strategy whereby a company produces a single product or service and sells it to the entire market. Put simply; it is a tactic that includes developing a single message for every audience member.
The main advantage of this market strategy is that it increases brand recognition and enables firms to reach more customers at a lower cost as they don’t have to produce different products for different groups of people. The disadvantage of this market strategy is that not everyone will be interested in the product or service, so the company might not make as much money as they would if they were into differentiated marketing.
A company in an undifferentiated market essentially adopts a mass-market philosophy. It views the market as one big market with no individual segments. According to the undifferentiated marketing strategy, individual customers are assumed to have needs that a general marketing mix can meet. Companies like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Colgate are in the undifferentiated market.
Differentiated/SEGMENT Marketing
Segment Marketing, best known for its unique targeting approach, focuses on a group of people known as the “target audience.”
With this strategy, businesses determine numerous market segments and then develop distinct, targeted strategies for each. This way, firms don’t simply produce the same products all the time in the hopes that consumers will consume anything put before them. Market segmentation understands that customers belong to different category clusters that respond to personalization.
The main advantage of this market strategy is that the company can tailor its products or services to meet each group’s specific needs, making it more likely to make a sale. The main disadvantage of this market strategy is that it can be time-consuming and expensive to produce different products or services for different groups of people.
niche Marketing
Niche marketing, also known as “Concentrated marketing,” is a marketing strategy whereby a company focuses its marketing efforts on one specific group of people. It is a marketing tactic deployed to target a particular and unique market segment. Companies that use concentrated strategies emphasize how their products can meet the individual needs of their niche audience.
The main advantage of this marketing strategy is that the company can tailor its marketing campaigns specifically for that group, making it more likely to make a sale. The main disadvantage of this strategy is that the company might miss out on opportunities to sell to other groups of people.
Micro Marketing
Micromarketing targets a certain group (localized microsegments) or people within a niche market. This technique is extremely targeted, with all marketing efforts directed toward the unique characteristics of these small groups or individuals. It might sound the same as Niche marketing, but Micro marketing works with a smaller set than Niche, as it targets a particular group of people in a niche market.
The main advantage of this marketing strategy is that it can effectively target a specific group of people. The main disadvantage of this marketing strategy is that it can be time-consuming and expensive.
If you want to learn more about other forms of marketing, you can check out this blog post.
How To Create A Target Marketing Strategy
Now that you can identify the target market strategies, let’s elaborate on how your business could utilize this strategy.
Step 1:
The first step is to identify your target markets. Your target market is the group of people who are most likely to buy your product or service. We previously referred to them as your target audience.
There are several ways you can do this:
- Look at your customer base and identify common characteristics among them.
- Use market research to identify other potential customers. This can include surveys, research, focus groups, and interviews.
- Look at who your competitors are targeting. You might get an idea of your target market by looking at who they are targeting.
Step 2:
If you’re not going the mass marketing route, you will need to segment your target market. Segmenting your target market means dividing your target market into smaller groups based on shared characteristics. Segmenting your target market makes it easier to develop marketing strategies tailored to each group’s needs.
There are several ways you can segment your target markets:
- Geographic segmentation: This involves dividing your target market by geographic location. For example, you might target customers in a specific city, state, or country.
- Demographic segmentation: This involves dividing your target market by demographic characteristics such as age, gender, income, or education level.
- Psychographic segmentation: This involves dividing your target market by psychological characteristics such as personality, lifestyle, or values.
- Behavioral segmentation: This involves dividing your target market by their behavior, such as their purchase history or buying habits.
Step 3:
The next step is to choose a target market strategy. We have already explained the types of target marketing strategies, and each method has advantages and disadvantages. Your business’s best target marketing strategy will depend on several factors, such as your budget, resources, and goals.
Step 4:
Once you’ve chosen a target market strategy, the next step is to develop a marketing mix tailored to your target market’s needs. The marketing mix combines a company’s marketing activities to reach its target market. It includes advertising, sales, promotions, and product development.
Developing a marketing mix tailored to your target market will help you achieve your goals and maximize your resources.
Step 5:
Finally, it would help if you set goals and objectives for your strategy.
Common goals and objectives include:
- Increasing brand awareness
- Getting more website visitors
- Generating leads or sales
- Improving customer satisfaction or loyalty
- Encouraging word-of-mouth marketing
Now that you know how to create a target market strategy, you can start putting one together for your business. Remember that your approach to market targeting should be flexible and adapt as your business grows and changes.
Benefits Of Using Target Marketing Strategies
There are many benefits to using target marketing strategies; some of them include:
- Target marketing helps you focus your marketing efforts and resources on a specific group of people who are more likely to buy your product or service.
- Target marketing allows you to understand your target market and their needs better.
- Target marketing strategies help you use your resources more effectively.
- A target marketing strategy can help you achieve your sales goals.
- Last, target marketing can help you maximize your return on investment.
Conclusion
Creating a target marketing strategy can be challenging, but it’s worth the effort. By taking the time to develop a target market strategy, you can ensure that your marketing efforts are focused on the groups of people that are most likely to buy your product or service. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment below.
