Why is target market analysis important? In any kind of marketing campaign, having a firm grasp of who you are advertising to is critical. If you are marketing online, there are many devices and tactics that you should be leveraging for successfully reaching your target audience. Taking the time to correctly identify who your target audience is should be your first step, along with defining what motivates them to make choices about products and services in your niche. Chances are, you’ve probably got these steps covered if you’ve made it here. However, incase you’re unsure about how stable your understanding is of your target market, here are some things to consider.
Target Market Analysis | Demographic, Geographic, and Psychographic Segmentation
Segmenting your market simply means segregating and defining separate groups of prospective buyers. No two customers are the same, and you will want to identify any and all kinds of prospective clients in your market and what motivates them to buy. When you use market segmentation, you are increasing your chances of persuading and influencing a wider range of customers, but the key is in identifying what different kinds of customers respond to in order to create better marketing campaigns.
Demographics include age, gender, generation, education, income, occupation. Geographic variables you should consider are region (continent, country, state, city), population size, population density, climate, whether the area is urban, suburban, or rural, and where you are physically located. Psychographics include, but are not limited to, customer’s lifestyle, interests, hobbies, opinions, activities, attitude, benefit from product and other behavioral triggers, and user status (first time buyers, potential buyers, or loyal buyers). Breaking down these segments one by one will begin a thorough target market analysis for marketing your business. If you are planning on marketing your products and services online, though, your target market analysis does not just stop here. Taking what you have thus far analyzed about your segmented target market, you will need to begin clear and comprehensive research into how you can get action from these customers on the web. The point of a target market analysis is not just simply who and why–but where, when, and how.
Target Market Analysis | Your Target Audience Is Already On The Web
In any target market analysis, you will need to identify where your customers are already looking for help. Here lies the beauty of the internet–everybody is here–including valuable customers. The greatest reality of the internet as a business owner is the power of search engines. People who make search engine queries are people who are actively looking for precisely the products, services, or expertise you are offering. What kind of marketing or advertising is more targeted than that? Search Engine Marketing (SEM) answers the question of “where and how?” in one fell swoop. It’s only up to you to decide when. There is no better time than now, as there are only increasing numbers of online visitors, search engine queries being performed, and let’s be realistic—an increasing number of your competitors who are catching on to the magnitude of SEM. Luckily, while most of your competitors may understand the power of marketing online, not all of them understand how they should be incorporating a target market analysis into their SEM and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) efforts. Without performing an online target market analysis that designates exactly how you will obtain traffic and how much power needs to be put behind your campaign, you will not capture the attention of the people you want. Not to mention, without SEO it’s likely that your website will lack visitors of any kind. If your goal in online marketing is to drive desired, practical, and convertible traffic to your website, then you must, must, must have research and analysis behind the operation of your SEM. So what’s your next step? Where does your analysis begin online?
How To Perform Online Target Market Analysis
In order to execute a complete and through online target market analysis and then put it into action on the web, you must perform and blend together: keyword research, competition analysis, and content writing.
All of these factors are important for a successful SEM, but clearly the most analytical parts of your online target market analysis are going to be keyword research and competition analysis. For that reason, we will focus only on those parts of the picture, but for info on persuading your target market with content, these content writing tips will do you justice. Keyword/Competition Research & Analysis includes these factors:
1. Defining the keywords (search queried words or phrases) that your customers will be typing into search engines when looking for your products or services. To be thorough, take each and every segmented customer market from your initial target market analysis and go from there. Create a good list of words or phrases and organize it based on your market segments. Many people search based on geographic, demographic, and psychographic factors, so beginning with organization will help you seed out wanted and unwanted phrases.
2. Researching your desired keywords for search volume. Sought-after phrases may become more or less of an importance versus other phrases as you conduct your research. Using tools like Google Adword’s External Keyword Tool help you determine exactly how many times search queries are performed for keywords, where (within your country or around the world), and much more. Having a solid foundation here is crucial, so you may want to hire a professional to perform your market research or help you along the way. Consultants here at The People’s Marketing enjoy helping others achieve online success so much that we are happy to help you perform your keyword research at no cost. If you’d like us to carry out an online target market analysis for your company, contact us for a free consultation at any time.
3. Determine your current Search Engine Ranking & Placement (SERP) for all of your keywords. A very easy way to find out if you are placed within at least the first 25 pages of Google’s, Yahoo’s, and MSN’s search engines is using other tools. This is very helpful and avoids having to manually sift through search engine pages to hunt down your placements for keywords (especially if you have an extensive list).
4. Research the competitiveness of your keywords. The only way to go about this is thoroughly and analytically. Your online target market analysis should end with determining which keywords are the best for you SEM efforts. By determining how strong your competition is, you will be able to determine which keywords fit your budget. In order to receive high ranking for keywords that have high competition, you must have a strong, authoritative link profile. Creating backlinks and authority costs either time or money, and as you know, time is money. If a high-competition keyword is worth your effort, outsourcing to an online marketing company like ours is your best bet. So there you have it–target market analysis for capturing ideal customers online. All of these steps are absolutely necessary for success in online marketing. Without performing a target market analysis to determine your best route for online marketing action, you will be wasting time, energy, and money. More than that, valuable customers will be slipping by and instead contacting your competitors, each and every day.