Identify Your Target Market: Day 5 of 21 Days to Build a Better Brand

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You should now have a very clear picture of who your ideal client or customer is. Today, you’re going to focus on finding more people like your ideal that you can effectively market and sell to. This is the second step in building meaningful connections with people and creating customers for life.

Ideal Client, Target Market, and Niche

There are three big factors you need to define if you want to create a business that really resonates with people – your ideal client, your target market, and your niche. Today focuses on the second part of the equation, your target market.

What is a Target Market?

Your target market is simply a specific group of people that your business serves really well. It’s most likely a group that your ideal client belongs to.

If your idea is to market your product or service to “everyone”, then your message will just end up getting lost in the mix. “Everyone” is just too big of an audience to do any kind of effective marketing. Even choosing “small-business owners” or “stay-at-home moms” ends up being way too broad of a market. In order to create a brand that really resonates with people, you need to get laser-focused on serving a narrow target market.

How to Define Your Target Market

Here are some things to consider when defining your target market:

• Where do they hang out? Do your ideal clients belong to any groups, communities, or networks? Where can you find these groups online and offline?
• What are their hobbies or interests? Do they share any common interests? Sci-Fi movies, pour-over coffee, and long-distance running are all good examples.
• Where do they shop? Do they prefer the local boutique or the mall? Kroger or Whole Foods? Best Buy or Amazon?
• Look at your current customer base. What characteristics or interests do they share? Where’s the common ground?
• Analyze your product or service. Make a list of all the benefits you provide (like no more blisters on your feet). Next, list all the people who have a need that your product or service fulfills.
• Check out your competition. Who are they serving? Be sure to choose a different target market than your competitors if you want to stand out.

How Well-Defined is Your Target Market?

You’ll know if you’ve done a good job of defining your target market if it meets the following criteria:

• It’s the right size – Your target market should be big enough for you to serve effectively. Too big or too small rarely work.
• Your message reaches them – You have to be able to connect with them either online or offline so you can start building relationships.
• They need you – They clearly understand why they need your product or service and how it helps them.
• They can afford you – It does no good to market to people who can’t afford you. For example, college students are a notably bad choice for your target market.

Trail Toes – Target Market Example

Trail Toes is “A phenomenal, ultra-extreme, anti-friction foot cream”. Their product is very simple – it’s a foot cream designed to prevent blisters while running extreme distances. Their ideal client is ultrarunners – people who run races longer than the 26.2 marathon distance, and I am definitely their ideal client. I run ultramarathon trail races – distances like 50k (31 miles), 50 miles, and 100 miles. A blister on my foot will take me out of a race, so I’ll do whatever it takes to reduce foot friction.

Let’s see if Trail Toes has defined an effective target market for their brand:

Their target market is ultrarunners and there’s definitely enough people in that group to sell to. It’s a very specific group of people, but not too broad or too narrow. They can find and connect with these people at trail races all over the world, at local running events, in shops that sell running shoes, and online in trail running groups on Facebook. There’s no doubt that this product helps. Ultrarunners really, really, really want and need this! And finally, even though it’s a little pricey at $12 a jar, their customers can easily afford it.

Day 5 Action Item—Identify Your Target Market

Take a few minutes today to identify your target market. Go somewhere where you work in peace, grab a notebook or your 21 Days to Build a Better Brand Workbook, and start writing. It may help you to do a little research online today, especially if you’re having a look at who your competition is serving. To know you’re on the right track with your target market, just make sure it meets the criteria above.

Coming up: Tomorrow’s lesson is all about the third and final factor in your customer equation – creating a niche for your brand.

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