Many CEOs think that their company does well at target marketing. Although sorting customers by industry, geography, size and channel is a sales process prerequisite, this isn’t target marketing. Awareness of those who buy from you is only a step towards understanding the niches you serve even better than the products and services that you deliver.
Target Marketing Tips
Target marketing guides the design of the right products and services along with the optimal pricing strategy and distribution channels. It sets the stage for developing compelling content and messages that are delivered via the target audience’s preferred communication channels.
Carefully choose a target market only after fully understanding it and if your company has what it takes to capture mindshare. Then, design a targeting strategy [product, pricing, branding and channels of distribution and information].
Narrowcast over time to define other niches that are distinctly different from each other and for which you are well-suited to serve. Build unique profiles for each segment including economic drivers, what they do for their customers, how they make buying decisions, their response mode [growth, trouble, even keel, euphoric] and opportunities and threats that they face. Give each profile a name suited to its traits. It is a bonus if you create personas of key decision makers and influencers within each target market.
As
you add more niches, decide if you need to adjust your targeting strategy:
- Differentiated - separate targeting strategy for each segment
- Undifferentiated – one targeting strategy across multiple segments
- Concentrated - one targeting strategy for one broadly defined target market
Assign market manager accountabilities for overseeing target market portfolios. Train your customer-facing teams to be competent in each target segment and for their antenna to be continually tuned to learning, networking and participating in segment related activities.
Although
challenging, designing and implementing an effective target marketing strategy will
make it easier to influence your target audience and to participate the right
deals with fewer surprises.
By John Bernardi
