Targeting the Right Customer

Targeting the right customer sounds simple enough. But many marketers make mistakes early in the marketing process, leading them to focus their marketing and media advertising resources on reaching an audience that may be too elusive for achieving both long and short term sales goals. Research is key. Before you establish your primary and secondary target audiences, you should be able to go through the following list with clear answers and direction.

Know Your Business

  • What part of your business is the most profitable?
  • What part of your business has the greatest potential for growth?
  • What part of your business can run on “auto-pilot?”

Know Your Customer

  • Evaluate and get to know your current customer.
  • Look for similarities: Product users, brand users, and category users.
  • Get to know both the purchasers and the “purchase influencers.”
  • Identify the demographics, psychographics, lifestyles, and attitudes of both the purchasers and the “purchase influencers.”
  • Get to know your target customers’ media usage habits.
  • Once you truly know your customer, you can then begin engaging your customer.

Know Your Media and Communication Options

  • Understand that there are distinct advantages and disadvantages to every media advertising option. (For more on this topic, go to our Media Profiles page.)
  • Understand the dynamics of media reach, frequency, and effective frequency for your specific target audiences.
  • Conduct competitive media spending analysis to find “best practices,” and to determine your potential share of voice relative to your share of market.
  • Don’t try to reach all people all the time – stay focused on your best prospects.

Make Your Message(s) Relevant, Persuasive, Compelling, and Consistent

  • Be consistent with all your marketing communications and advertising. Don’t confuse your customer!
  • Great creative advertising must have the right message and be communicated with the right media.
  • The right message will fail to communicate without compelling creative and impactful media.
  • Well targeted media buys cannot deliver sales results without compelling creative and a relevant message.

Go for the trifecta to engage your customers!

Relevant Message                             Compelling Creative                               Impactful Media!