6 benefits of targeting your market

Target marketing is one of the most effective marketing strategies you can have in your marketing toolkit.

The opposite of destination marketing is mass marketing. Mass marketing may make sense for Procter & Gamble when selling laundry detergent, but as service professionals and small business owners, attracting a more select group is what will help you achieve maximum results when building your business.

While “everyone” can benefit from what you offer, you can’t please everyone with the same services and products. Proctor & Gamble has enough market share and enough products in its warehouse to mass-market successfully.

Targeting your market can be the result of making a proactive decision about who you want as a customer, or it can be the result of analyzing your customer base and targeting a subset of that group.

Here are 6 reasons to target your market:

1 – You can easily drill down into the features and benefits of your services and products that are most important to your target market. For example, as a photographer, anyone who wants a photograph can benefit from your services. But the most important benefits and features for someone who wants their wedding photos versus someone who wants a commercial photo will be very different.

2 – Once you know your target audience, it’s much easier to communicate with them using the features and benefits that matter most. Whether by communicating verbally or in writing, you can address the issues most important to your target market. The bride-to-be will want a visual record of the most important day of her life to share with her children and grandchildren. The corporate businessman wants a photo that makes him look professional in print and online. The words you use to communicate with each of these markets will be different if they are to be effective.

3 – Once you identify your target market, it’s easier to determine where and how you can most effectively market your services. A wedding photographer can leave business cards at bridal shops or tuxedo rental shops, or implement online advertising using “wedding photographers” as a keyword and including your geographic location.

4 – Finding your market becomes much easier when you focus on one goal. You can form partnerships with other companies that offer complementary services. In addition to wedding planners, the photographer may want to partner with companies that specialize in wedding cakes or facilities that specialize in weddings.

5 – By focusing on your market, you can be proactive in deciding who you want to work with. If you only want to do high-profile weddings, you can build your marketing around that choice. If photographing weddings drives you crazy because you have to deal with the mother of the groom, the wedding planner and the bride, maybe you can specialize in “City Hall” weddings where the decision makers are likely to be just the bride and it’s a smaller group. Deciding on your ideal client by focusing on your market will make your job much more enjoyable.

6 – Adding additional target markets becomes easier once you have your marketing strategy in place for the first one. So if you get tired of weddings or want to create an additional income stream, quickly implementing a marketing strategy for your next market becomes simple. Be careful though: you want to research the market and know exactly what your strategy will be for attracting customers.

Just because a prospect doesn’t fit your target market doesn’t mean you don’t work with them. That is a decision you can make on a case-by-case basis. Targeting a market can make attracting customers so much easier – it’s the power of focus. Once you set up your process to identify your target market, you can add other markets when you’re ready.