How to Target Your Most Profitable Market

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by Michel Fortin

If you already have a product or solve a specific problem, then targeting your market as much as possible should be the obvious next step. However, this is where many marketers fail, for they are trying to be "all things to all people." Instead, try to discover the demographics and psychographics of your niche -- your specific (or greatest) market. Then market to that audience more than any other and as often as possible.

Demographics are the basic qualities and characteristics of your target market. They include age, gender, culture, employment, industry, income level, marital status, position, sales cycle, location, etc. For example, does your product cater uniquely to women? Is it more appealing to a specific industry? Does your product complement another type of product? Is your market mostly made up of French Canadians?

In other words, who buys from you specifically? And if you were to say "everyone," then you are falling in the "all things to all people" trap mentioned earlier. Avoid it as much as you can. But if you do cater to a diverse market, then find out who buys from you the most (or the most often). Your answer will make up your company or product's core demographics.

Your psychographics, though, are made up of the emotional and behavioral qualities of your target market. They include the emotion, reasoning, psychology, logic, and thought processes behind your market's decision to buy your product. For example, they include interests, hobbies, associations to which they belong, previous purchases, other related products your market has consumed, and so on.

Intelligence Gathering
In other words, demographics include the segment of the population that needs your product, while psychographics are those within your demographics that want your product. If you don't know this, you can easily conduct a survey as part of a marketing research campaign among your current clients, potential clients, and clients of other similar products or companies. Don't underestimate your greatest source for marketing research -- your own clients. For example, here's a list of questions you should ask them:

. Why did your clients buy your product? If not, why not?
. Why did they buy from you or your competitor specifically?
. Why did they not buy from you or the competition?
. Why did they buy from you at that specific point in time?
. Why did they buy right away (on impulse) or took their time?
. If so, how much time specifically and why?
. What do they like the most and the least about the product?
. Would they refer you to others? Why? If not, why not?
. What specific benefits do they see in your product and/or in your competitor's product?
. And so on.

These are immensely important questions that can help you, guide you, or even cause you to change your approach altogether. Don't discount the power of doing some marketing research. You want to know not only who buys from you but, more important, why they do. In other words, think psychographics and not just demographics.

Target Your Market
To illustrate the difference between demographics and psychographics, here's a forinstance. Hair transplant doctors cater mainly to men who have experienced hair loss and are able to afford such an operation. In other words, men and bald men specifically are potential patients because they may be in need of more hair.

But psychographics, on the other hand, go a little further. In this example, they are comprised of men who not only need more hair but also want more hair -- since not all of them do (it's a matter of priorities, just as the type of clothing one chooses to wear).

Therefore, in order to target this market as precisely as possible and thus generate better leads, doctors must take the psychographic element into account, such as their patients' lifestyle, the type of industry in which they work (since certain industries are image-related or cater to certain emotions), as well as their previous buying habits (such as men who have also invested in other forms of hair replacement solutions).

Nevertheless, arm yourself with as much of this type of information beforehand and your chances of achieving greater success with your product will be virtually guaranteed. While you can't be everything to everyone, you shouldn't be targeting everyone for everything.