How to Find Your Target Market

Finding your target market is very important if you're trying to sell a service, run a retail store, or get people to read your content online. Having a good understanding of who your target market is will help you develop new products and market your business effectively. If you run any kind of business, start doing some simple research on your customers and your competitors to help you narrow down your target market right away.

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Answering Questions About Your Business

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Think about what problems your product or service solves. If you want people to buy your product or service, you need to make sure it will it solve some kind of problem for them. For example, your product might solve your customers' problem of needing fashionable clothing at an affordable price.^{[1]XResearch source}
- The problems you identify can be anything at all, as long as you believe there are enough people who have the problem to support your business.
- Try to be as specific as possible when identifying the problems your product solves. Identifying an overly broad problem, such as the need for food, will not be very helpful. You can start with this broad problem, but then narrow it down by asking yourself some followup questions such as "Where do my customers need food?" or "What kind of food do my customers need?"
2
Consider your competition. Think about what other businesses offer similar products or services as yours and how you can differentiate yourself from them.^{[2]XExpert SourceChristine Michel Carter
Global Marketing ExpertExpert Interview. 30 September 2020.}^{[3]XResearch source}
- If you have a physical store, your competition will probably be other businesses in the same community. If you operate online, you will have to do some research to determine what other options your potential customers have. A quick online search for keywords relevant to your business should help you identify your online competitors.
- Once you identify your competitors, do some research on them. You might want to find out things like what their store hours are, how many products they offer, or how much they charge for shipping. Your goal is to identify problems that potential customers might have that are not being solved by your competitors.
- It is okay if you are not the only business offering a solution to a particular problem, but you should try to differentiate yourself as much as possible. Make sure your products or services are uniquely identifiable in some way.^{[4]XResearch source} Use what you have learned to outdo your competition. This may mean offering a greater selection of items, higher quality items, lower prices, easy returns, and so on.
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3
Make a list of characteristics. Once you understand what kinds of problems your product solves, you can start thinking about what kind of person might have these problems. List as many characteristics that your ideal customer would have as you can think of.^{[5]XResearch source}
- Again, try to be as specific as possible. For example, if you are selling organic dog food, your list might include people who own dogs, are knowledgeable about nutrition, care about sustainable agriculture, etc.
4
Think about the cost of your product. If you have an established product or service, compare the cost of it to other similar products available to your potential customers. If you have not established your pricing yet, you should use this research to decide on an appropriate price.^{[6]XResearch source}
- If your product is more expensive than other products, you will need to make it clear to your customers why it is a better option for them.^{[7]XResearch source}
- You will also need to think about what kind of person would be willing to pay for your product and whether your customers will think of your product as a necessity or a luxury item.
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Part 2

Part 2 of 3:

Conducting Market Research

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Find out who your current customers are. The best way to start learning more about who would want to buy your products is to find out who is already buying them. You can use this information to help target other people who have similar interests or who fall into similar demographic groups.^{[8]XExpert SourceChristine Michel Carter
Global Marketing ExpertExpert Interview. 30 September 2020.}^{[9]XResearch source}
- If you have a store, pay attention to who your customers are. You may be able to tell a lot about them simply by being observant. You can also try engaging customers in conversation, asking customers to complete surveys, or creating a rewards program that requires the submission of personal information in order to learn more about your current customers. Rewards programs also allow you to track customers' purchases, which will help you understand what kinds of products a specific kind of customer is most attracted to.
- If you have a website, Google Analytics can tell you a lot about the people who are currently visiting your site. Many social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube, also have "insights" or "analytics" that provide information about demographics and interests. The manufacturer of a product can also likely provide customer demographics.
2
Find out who your competitors' customers are. If you don't have an established store or website, you can find out a lot about your potential customers by researching your competitors. Even if you do have your own store or website, you should still consider doing this research because it will show you if a certain competitor has been more successful at attracting a specific type of customer than you have.^{[10]XResearch source}
- You can learn some basic information about your competitors' customers by looking at their social media accounts and viewing the profiles and/or comments of people who follow them. Some will even show you the most common age group of followers.
- If your competitor has a store, spend some time there and try to assess the kinds of customers who shop there.
3
Review existing research. There is a ton of market research that has already been done and that can be very helpful to your business. Try searching online for market research, target markets, or customer profiles in your specific industry. The data might not be exactly what you would have collected if you had done it yourself, but it will provide useful insights nonetheless.^{[11]XExpert SourceChristine Michel Carter
Global Marketing ExpertExpert Interview. 30 September 2020.}^{[12]XResearch source}
- Trade publications might also be a good source of information.
4
Perform your own research. If you've already done a ton of online research and observed your current customers, you may feel like you need some input from real people. It is possible to conduct this kind of research on your own, although you might want to consider hiring a professional firm if you are unsure about how to recruit good participants or interpret the data.^{[13]XResearch source}
- Ask customer existing customers to complete surveys, either online or at your store. You can include questions about their demographics and interests, about the their perceptions of your product, and about what services or products they would like you to offer.
- If you want to get more responses to your survey, you can try paid online surveys. There are a variety of companies, including Swagbucks and Vindale Research, that will post your surveys online for a fee.
- You can also try conducting focus groups if you want to get more detailed information about how a specific group of people feels about your product or service.
5
Complete your customer profile. Once you have answered the questions about your business and conducted your market research, you can finish compiling a complete profile of your ideal customer. If you have multiple products or services, you may have a different ideal customer for each. Your profile should include a combination of demographic information, which will help you understand the socioeconomic status of your customers, and psychographic information, which provides insights into the personalities of your customers.^{[14]XExpert SourceChristine Michel Carter
Global Marketing ExpertExpert Interview. 30 September 2020.}^{[15]XResearch source}
- Important demographic information may include age, racial/ethnic background, gender, marital status, education level, occupation, income, number of children, and location.
- Important psychographic information may include hobbies, interests, beliefs, religion, lifestyle, and technology preferences.
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Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Using This Information to Grow Your Business

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Target your market where they spend time. Once you have your customer profile, you can do some online research to determine what kinds of habits this kind of individual might have. Knowing their habits will help you make smart decisions about where and how to market your services.^{[16]XResearch source}
- You should try to find out if your target market prefers to shop online or in a store; how much time they spend on the internet, watching television, reading magazines, and listening to the radio; and what specific sites, channels, and publications they prefer.
- You can use social media analytics services such as Followerwonk to help you learn more about the habits of your target audience. If you find that a large proportion of your target market is fans of a specific company, you may be able to borrow some ideas for how to market to them.^{[17]XResearch source}
- You can also do your own research to get answers to these questions. This may be especially helpful if you need to know the habits of a specific group in your local area. Take care to recruit a group of participants who are representative of your target market.
When you have a good understanding of your target market, you should be able to create marketing campaigns that will resonate with them. Always consult your customer profile whenever you are creating a new campaign and ask yourself how it relates to what you already know about your target market.^{[18]XResearch source}
3
Send out tailored promotions. If you understand your target market and are diligent about collecting data from customers, you can use this information to divide your customers into different niches and make sure they always get information about your store that is relevant to them.^{[19]XResearch source}
- For example, if you run an online store that sells pet apparel, you can use the data you have gathered about past purchases to divide your customers into three groups: dog owners, cat owners, and dog and cat owners. This will allow you to send out promotions to customers for the products that they would be most interested in.
- You may also use this information to develop new products or services to cater to your different niche groups.^{[20]XResearch source}
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Tips

Your target market may evolve over time, and that's fine! Never stop doing market research.^{[21]XResearch source}
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Try very hard not to make assumptions about your target market based on your own biases.^{[22]XResearch source}
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It's fine to ask for input from friends and family, but don't make the mistake of believing this is valid market research. You still need to make the effort to get feedback from a group that is representative of your market.
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Warnings

If you collect personal information from your customers, you must comply with all laws regarding the protection of this information.
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