What is target marketing strategy? Why are target marketing strategies
important aspects of marketing? Marketing is nothing but spreading the
word by various means about a product or service being offered to the
final consumer who will purchase it. Target marketing would be narrowing
down the mass market into segments. Read on to know more.
The sole aim of any business functions is to make profit. In order to attain maximum monetary benefit, business men and management spend scores of hours trying to zero in on the perfect strategy that will fish maximum returns.
Marketing is an important function that plays a
vital role in the running of the business. If the product is not
marketed in the right manner and fails to reach the end customer, the
business will fail. This is why, marketing strategies play crucial
roles. While marketing a product, the company has to decide a target
market. Target market is nothing but that specific set of audience to
whom the product manufactured is meant to cater to. Target market is
more like dividing the vast sea of customers into smaller segments and
using the 4Ps of marketing (Product, Price, Place and Promotion) on this
segment effectively to achieve maximum sales and profits. Target
marketing strategy helps tap that subset of the customer population that
are most likely to purchase and use the product. Read more on marketing mix strategy.
How to Identify a Target Market?
Target market, unlike mass marketing does not dole out a single product to the entire market, instead marks out a specific range of people to who the product must be effectively marketed to. As a marketing professional one needs to identify the target market correctly and tap as much profit as possible. To identify the target market one will have to look at the product being manufactured and sold. Ask a few questions such as what does this product do? Who is it helpful to? Which regions of the world will accept this product, etc.
Let's consider the simple example of marketing a pair of low waist jeans. The product is catering to the fashion taste buds of the young, teenage generation. Thus, the target market would be based on the age ranging from 14-25 years of age. Then again if we consider a product exclusively for men, such as shaving cream, the target market will be divided based on gender. Other factors affecting target market selection are income, occupation, geographical location, etc. If your company is selling desert coolers, it is but obvious that the target market will be for extremely hot regions of the world and not the cold regions. Moreover, if you are selling a luxurious product in an economically poor country, it's quite obvious the product will not sell. Thus, based on the product marketed, the target market can be identified and worked upon. Let's have a look at how you can divide the market into tiny segments for one's target market.
Demographic Segmentation: This segment involves categorization of customers based on factors such as age, income, family size, gender, education, nationality, race, etc.
Geographical Segmentation: As we already read above, segmentation based on the region is important while dealing with specific products like desert coolers, fur coats, blankets, snow boots, raincoats, etc. the climatic conditions will determine one's target area.
Behavioral Segmentation: This form of segmentation clubs factors like brand loyalty and value of quality. For example, several IT companies market their products specifically to customers loyal to their products. Then again, certain companies target their high scale products to people who cherish, value and are ready to shell out extra cash for valuable pieces.
Psychographic Segmentation: This type of categorization involves clubbing of people's interests, life styles and personalities.
Types of Target Marketing Strategies
It's important to tap the most attractive segment for maximum profit. To help you achieve this, here are some target marketing strategies.
Single Segment Strategy: This strategy involves the use of only one marketing mix for one market segment. Usually small scale companies with limited budget and resources opt for this form of target marketing strategy.
Selective Specialization Strategy: In this strategy, several marketing mixes are implemented in different segments. The same product is marketed differently in different segments, which is why this target marketing strategy is also known as differentiated strategy.
Product Specialization: The product manufactured is customized and then marketed, so as to cater to different market segments.
Market Specialization Strategy: In this form of target marketing, the company first finalizes the market segment they wish to cater to and then manufacture a variety of products exclusively for this segment.
Full Market Coverage Strategy: The company uses this strategy when they wish to serve the mass market. This means a single marketing mix combination can be used or even several marketing mixes are used to cater to segments made in this entire market.
Depending on one's goal, product, budget, etc. one can pick out one strategy from these target marketing strategies, that is most suitable. It's a simple fact of life that no matter how hard we try, we cannot please everybody. There is no product in the market that has managed or will ever manage to satisfy every customer. Thus, the wisest thing to do would be to focus on a particular segment or target market, investing all efforts and money into this potential customer pool. Once you hit the most suitable target market strategy, the sales of the product will begin to climb rapidly. Hope this article on target market strategies was helpful and informative!
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