What is Target Marketing?
Before we can apply the concept to social media, we need to explain the terms. Target marketing is a strategy used to leverage information about a target market (or audience) to more effectively and efficiently deliver on the marketing mix, that is the 4 Ps of marketing (product, price, place, promotion).
A target market is a group of customers with shared geographic, demographic, psychographic, and/or behavioral characteristics. A target audience is who you present your marketing messages and communications to; your ultimate customers and the people who influence them. These terms are often used interchangeably, so don't worry if you feel a bit confused.
What's important is understanding who and where your target audience is, what they care about and how they behave is the core of any marketing plan.
It’s necessary to define your target because you don’t have the time, money or energy to promote to everyone, everywhere, and on every social media site. You need to be selective. The idea is to devote your marketing resources to a specific target audience so it will be used far more effectively and efficiently. At the least, you won’t be wasting them on people who aren’t interested. I’m not saying that other people couldn’t be persuaded to buy your product or service, but that effort translates into higher marketing costs. That’s why it makes sense to go after the people who are already part way there.
Messaging & Media
Defining your target audience will also allow you to create messages that specifically address their needs and resonate with them, which is much more effective than diluting your message to a general audience. You’ll be able to choose the right media, so they’ll actually see your message, and time the delivery, so they’ll get it as close as possible to the moment they’re ready to buy.
Defining Your Target Audience
Target profiles are defined along the following dimensions: geography, demographics, psychographics and behaviors.
Understanding your target profile will help you determine if social media is the right way to communicate with them. It may seem obvious, but you shouldn’t be focusing much of your energy on social media if your audience isn’t using social sites. They’ll never see the information you post there. Or put another way, if they are using social sites, find the ones where they hang out. Whatever you can do to match your audience to the medium will give your social efforts greater impact and yield better results.
Geography: Where is your target audience and what role does it play in social media marketing?
Your customers may come from around the neighborhood or across the ocean.
The type of business you have often establishes the boundary. For example, most retail and service business customers are local. If you’re a coffee shop, most of your customers come from the surrounding neighborhood or they’re commuters. That means your first marketing expense is rent – you’re paying to be in a particular location to be available and attractive to that audience. Your second marketing priority is signage, to make the most of the walk-by and drive-by traffic. A third priority may be to place coupons in customers’ bags to encourage repeat business. While they’re there, you may want to encourage them to sign up for a mailing list, so you can send them coupons via email or a service called Groupon. And on it goes. Notice, there’s no real mention of social media. Not yet. Once you deal with the priorities, then it may make sense to see where social media fits in.
On the other hand, if you’re selling a product online, your customers may come from around the world, or at least from English-speaking countries to begin with. In this case, digital marketing and social media makes more sense.
Proximity and travel distance often define geographical limits for the business as well as the customer. This is especially true for service-type businesses where the delivery takes place at the customer’s location (landscapers, plumbers, cleaning, etc.). For professional services, like consultants, graphic designers and accountants, it may be important to meet clients face-to-face; however Zoom and the comfort-level people have with it now, has changed things quite a bit. However, people still want to work with local providers, or at least ones in their own time zone. So, unless the consultant is very specialized, it is more likely that most of their customers will be in closer proximity even if they are meeting virtually.
A key advantage a small business has over a larger one is the ability to provide personalized service, which a large business may not be in a position or be willing to deliver. Large businesses need to standardize to economically manage a large volume of customers. Therefore it makes sense for the small business to focus on creating personal relationships with their local customers, which fits in nicely with social media.
Although the Web has a global reach, there are many social sites designed to meet local needs, such as Yelp’s city-based reviews. So it's important to go beyond just the larger sites when looking for social media opportunities. Geographically targeted social sites, for example, can help limit competition from vendors outside an area.
Consider the location of people in your personal and professional networks when choosing social sites. For example, you could set up a Twitter page just for people in your area. When using social media calendars, think about how far people will be willing to travel. For an hour-long seminar, you’ll need to draw attendees from a narrow radius. For a weeklong conference, people will travel farther. Choose your social media calendars and sites accordingly.
Geography may also play a role in the number of people using a particular social media site. Even mainstream sites, like Facebook, have bigger audiences in certain areas.
Geography may also help you gain a better understanding of your customers. There are common characteristics and behaviors shared between city-dwellers versus suburbanites for example – more singles in the city; more families in the suburbs. One way to use the anecdotal information found at social sites would be to determine where to expand or start a new business, for example.
Geography also plays a role in how someone is going to make a purchase – especially if the need is immediate. If a customer needs it now, they’re not going to wait for shipping. The Pets.com failure is a classic case. Often, people buy dog food when it runs out, just like they buy food for themselves. They weren’t going to wait to make that kind of purchase, and they certainly didn’t want to pay shipping on something as heavy as 10 pounds of kibble.
Demographics: Age, income, education and the all the quantifiable stuff
Demographics define people by race, age, income, disabilities, mobility (i.e., number of cars, commuter time, etc.), education, home ownership and employment. Knowing the demographics of your audience will help you determine the most closely targeted social sites. If you’re already in business, look to your existing customers to define common characteristics. For more information, define your geographic area, and then gather demographics by zip code, MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area), city, state, etc. Good, basic sources of demographics are the U.S. Census or your local government’s website.
Once you define your market demographically, you can look for social sites that match your target profile. Many of them focus on certain age groups or education level. Hundreds of sites have been created for kids and young adults and everything in between. If you’re looking for consumers based on their income level, consider their interests, like those looking for bargains or making smart purchases. These folks may be seeking sites that provide detailed information, which means that reviews and comparisons are more useful to them than lifestyle content.
Psychographics: What are people thinking?
Demographics, and age in particular, are just one aspect affecting social media usage. But these days, people are just as likely to find connections based on interests, which makes the psychographics of users that much more important. Psychographic variables include: personality, values, attitudes, interests, opinions or lifestyles. Knowing what a customer thinks and cares about will help you understand their motivations and actions.
Psychographics and behaviors are what being social is all about; so defining your target profile along these dimensions is incredibly important to the successful use of social media. After all, it is a social medium. In some industries, like fashion, entertainment and cars, it’s the most important factor of all. But it also has a big influence on the way people buy less-sexy products, like financial services and insurance. Social media can be focused on topics as remote as knitting or bird watching, which makes niches a strong branding target. These more focused audiences should be popular with brands because relevance trumps size.
Granted, there are certain interests that change as we age or progress through various life stages. Parents are a good example; generally people having babies and raising children will fall into a generalized age group. But travelers can be any age, although that age and income may determine how they travel. Another example is a person who’s into tech toys. This could occur at any age, income (since prices have fallen) or education. It’s more about the person and how much they love technology. So when marketing to someone like that, you wouldn’t necessarily target by age alone.
What you really want to do is select by what’s in their heads – what they read, the websites they visit, the groups they belong to – that’s the way to reach your audience when it comes to social media.
There’s a whole world of niche sites that appeal to certain interests. In fact, long established Web communities have always had some level of social activity. Discussion boards and forums have been around since the early days of the Internet. Also, communities are creating their own social sites.
For example, the review site TripAdvisor offers extensive travel and destination information – the majority of it provided by travelers themselves, which makes it social. If you offer any type of travel service, this is probably one place you want your business listed and reviewed.
What's important is understanding who and where your target audience is, what they care about and how they behave is the core of any marketing plan.
It’s necessary to define your target because you don’t have the time, money or energy to promote to everyone, everywhere, and on every social media site. You need to be selective. The idea is to devote your marketing resources to a specific target audience so it will be used far more effectively and efficiently. At the least, you won’t be wasting them on people who aren’t interested. I’m not saying that other people couldn’t be persuaded to buy your product or service, but that effort translates into higher marketing costs. That’s why it makes sense to go after the people who are already part way there.
Messaging & Media
Defining your target audience will also allow you to create messages that specifically address their needs and resonate with them, which is much more effective than diluting your message to a general audience. You’ll be able to choose the right media, so they’ll actually see your message, and time the delivery, so they’ll get it as close as possible to the moment they’re ready to buy.
Defining Your Target Audience
Target profiles are defined along the following dimensions: geography, demographics, psychographics and behaviors.
Understanding your target profile will help you determine if social media is the right way to communicate with them. It may seem obvious, but you shouldn’t be focusing much of your energy on social media if your audience isn’t using social sites. They’ll never see the information you post there. Or put another way, if they are using social sites, find the ones where they hang out. Whatever you can do to match your audience to the medium will give your social efforts greater impact and yield better results.
Geography: Where is your target audience and what role does it play in social media marketing?
Your customers may come from around the neighborhood or across the ocean.
The type of business you have often establishes the boundary. For example, most retail and service business customers are local. If you’re a coffee shop, most of your customers come from the surrounding neighborhood or they’re commuters. That means your first marketing expense is rent – you’re paying to be in a particular location to be available and attractive to that audience. Your second marketing priority is signage, to make the most of the walk-by and drive-by traffic. A third priority may be to place coupons in customers’ bags to encourage repeat business. While they’re there, you may want to encourage them to sign up for a mailing list, so you can send them coupons via email or a service called Groupon. And on it goes. Notice, there’s no real mention of social media. Not yet. Once you deal with the priorities, then it may make sense to see where social media fits in.
On the other hand, if you’re selling a product online, your customers may come from around the world, or at least from English-speaking countries to begin with. In this case, digital marketing and social media makes more sense.
Proximity and travel distance often define geographical limits for the business as well as the customer. This is especially true for service-type businesses where the delivery takes place at the customer’s location (landscapers, plumbers, cleaning, etc.). For professional services, like consultants, graphic designers and accountants, it may be important to meet clients face-to-face; however Zoom and the comfort-level people have with it now, has changed things quite a bit. However, people still want to work with local providers, or at least ones in their own time zone. So, unless the consultant is very specialized, it is more likely that most of their customers will be in closer proximity even if they are meeting virtually.
A key advantage a small business has over a larger one is the ability to provide personalized service, which a large business may not be in a position or be willing to deliver. Large businesses need to standardize to economically manage a large volume of customers. Therefore it makes sense for the small business to focus on creating personal relationships with their local customers, which fits in nicely with social media.
Although the Web has a global reach, there are many social sites designed to meet local needs, such as Yelp’s city-based reviews. So it's important to go beyond just the larger sites when looking for social media opportunities. Geographically targeted social sites, for example, can help limit competition from vendors outside an area.
Consider the location of people in your personal and professional networks when choosing social sites. For example, you could set up a Twitter page just for people in your area. When using social media calendars, think about how far people will be willing to travel. For an hour-long seminar, you’ll need to draw attendees from a narrow radius. For a weeklong conference, people will travel farther. Choose your social media calendars and sites accordingly.
Geography may also play a role in the number of people using a particular social media site. Even mainstream sites, like Facebook, have bigger audiences in certain areas.
Geography may also help you gain a better understanding of your customers. There are common characteristics and behaviors shared between city-dwellers versus suburbanites for example – more singles in the city; more families in the suburbs. One way to use the anecdotal information found at social sites would be to determine where to expand or start a new business, for example.
Geography also plays a role in how someone is going to make a purchase – especially if the need is immediate. If a customer needs it now, they’re not going to wait for shipping. The Pets.com failure is a classic case. Often, people buy dog food when it runs out, just like they buy food for themselves. They weren’t going to wait to make that kind of purchase, and they certainly didn’t want to pay shipping on something as heavy as 10 pounds of kibble.
Demographics: Age, income, education and the all the quantifiable stuff
Demographics define people by race, age, income, disabilities, mobility (i.e., number of cars, commuter time, etc.), education, home ownership and employment. Knowing the demographics of your audience will help you determine the most closely targeted social sites. If you’re already in business, look to your existing customers to define common characteristics. For more information, define your geographic area, and then gather demographics by zip code, MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area), city, state, etc. Good, basic sources of demographics are the U.S. Census or your local government’s website.
Once you define your market demographically, you can look for social sites that match your target profile. Many of them focus on certain age groups or education level. Hundreds of sites have been created for kids and young adults and everything in between. If you’re looking for consumers based on their income level, consider their interests, like those looking for bargains or making smart purchases. These folks may be seeking sites that provide detailed information, which means that reviews and comparisons are more useful to them than lifestyle content.
Psychographics: What are people thinking?
Demographics, and age in particular, are just one aspect affecting social media usage. But these days, people are just as likely to find connections based on interests, which makes the psychographics of users that much more important. Psychographic variables include: personality, values, attitudes, interests, opinions or lifestyles. Knowing what a customer thinks and cares about will help you understand their motivations and actions.
Psychographics and behaviors are what being social is all about; so defining your target profile along these dimensions is incredibly important to the successful use of social media. After all, it is a social medium. In some industries, like fashion, entertainment and cars, it’s the most important factor of all. But it also has a big influence on the way people buy less-sexy products, like financial services and insurance. Social media can be focused on topics as remote as knitting or bird watching, which makes niches a strong branding target. These more focused audiences should be popular with brands because relevance trumps size.
Granted, there are certain interests that change as we age or progress through various life stages. Parents are a good example; generally people having babies and raising children will fall into a generalized age group. But travelers can be any age, although that age and income may determine how they travel. Another example is a person who’s into tech toys. This could occur at any age, income (since prices have fallen) or education. It’s more about the person and how much they love technology. So when marketing to someone like that, you wouldn’t necessarily target by age alone.
What you really want to do is select by what’s in their heads – what they read, the websites they visit, the groups they belong to – that’s the way to reach your audience when it comes to social media.
There’s a whole world of niche sites that appeal to certain interests. In fact, long established Web communities have always had some level of social activity. Discussion boards and forums have been around since the early days of the Internet. Also, communities are creating their own social sites.
For example, the review site TripAdvisor offers extensive travel and destination information – the majority of it provided by travelers themselves, which makes it social. If you offer any type of travel service, this is probably one place you want your business listed and reviewed.
Learn more about psychographics, and how they contribute to creating a high converting website.
Behaviors: How do people act?
Understanding how someone behaves or purchases your product will not only help you determine which social sites to use, but how and when to make the best use of them. "Consumer behavior" is the study of how individuals, groups, or organizations go about making purchases, which is a process influenced by several factors:
Whether the individual is buying for themselves or within the context of a group (i.e., family) or for an organization (i.e., employee).
Understanding how someone behaves or purchases your product will not only help you determine which social sites to use, but how and when to make the best use of them. "Consumer behavior" is the study of how individuals, groups, or organizations go about making purchases, which is a process influenced by several factors:
Whether the individual is buying for themselves or within the context of a group (i.e., family) or for an organization (i.e., employee).
- By the type of product being purchased, i.e., a tangible good versus a personal service.
- Macro factors, like the economy, going green and health news.
- Timing issues, from seasonal buying patterns to knowing when someone has a specific need. Certain events in a person’s life can trigger the need to buy something – from minor (running out of printer ink) to major (getting married).
- People are also highly influenced by others, especially when products are confusing, risky or difficult to compare or otherwise high involvement, like technical products or healthcare services. They look to their friends for referrals to make their choices less complicated.
Knowing your customers’ behaviors will make your marketing efforts more relevant to the recipient. This in turn will make them more receptive to your messages.
How to Determine Your Target Market When Your Customer is a Business
Although business people are consumers too, they’re affected by their bizographics (listed below) as well as their demographics. This information includes things like their title, role and responsibilities. The better you understand the person, the business and their industry, the more effective your marketing will be.
Business buyers aren’t making purchases for their own personal consumption. They buy things to help their companies or their clients make money, reduce operating costs, or satisfy a social or legal obligation. The exception may be solopreneurs or very small business owners who often blend personal and business use.
Social media can play a part in the purchase decision, because buyers are going to look for trusted referrals, especially when the individual is looking for something they’re not familiar with, a high involvement product, or they’re making a costly or risky investment.
There’s a big difference between marketing to an owner versus an employee, and it’s crucial to understand this when you’re communicating with a small business. When owners make a purchase, the expenditure may feel like it’s coming out of their own pockets. This makes them very sensitive to price, so they’re going to spend a lot of time shopping around. An employee isn’t as sensitive, since they probably aren’t feeling the pinch personally. In this case, making their job easier may be more important than price.
Although business people are consumers too, they’re affected by their bizographics (listed below) as well as their demographics. This information includes things like their title, role and responsibilities. The better you understand the person, the business and their industry, the more effective your marketing will be.
Business buyers aren’t making purchases for their own personal consumption. They buy things to help their companies or their clients make money, reduce operating costs, or satisfy a social or legal obligation. The exception may be solopreneurs or very small business owners who often blend personal and business use.
Social media can play a part in the purchase decision, because buyers are going to look for trusted referrals, especially when the individual is looking for something they’re not familiar with, a high involvement product, or they’re making a costly or risky investment.
There’s a big difference between marketing to an owner versus an employee, and it’s crucial to understand this when you’re communicating with a small business. When owners make a purchase, the expenditure may feel like it’s coming out of their own pockets. This makes them very sensitive to price, so they’re going to spend a lot of time shopping around. An employee isn’t as sensitive, since they probably aren’t feeling the pinch personally. In this case, making their job easier may be more important than price.
Knowing an individual’s role in the company, the functional area, level of influence, seniority, responsibilities, and decision making power will help you communicate more effectively. Environmental, organizational, and interpersonal influences play a big part in decision making, as well.
The purchasing process for businesses is more involved than one for a consumer. It often requires vendor searches, RFP’s, approvals, etc. In many cases, more people are involved and there can be a long sales cycle. You may need to apply to get on a company’s shortlist before they’ll even approach you for goods or services. Follow up and persistence in this case are crucial, and social media can play a supporting role here.
You need to understand the buyer’s industry, how it operates and how their decisions are influenced by their position in the channel (supplier, manufacturer, wholesaler, distributor or retailer). Partner or personal relationships may also affect their buying behavior. This could be your starting point for choosing the right social sites, such as those related to industry associations, related businesses, vendors, etc. And consider the "halo effect" of being a member of the right organizations.
Companies, and the people who work for them, behave very differently from consumers when it comes to social media and many have restrictions on where their employees can surf and the social sites they can use. Most likely, the larger the company the more conservative their policies are going to be. You’ll need to take this into account when choosing social media for reaching your B2B customers.
The purchasing process for businesses is more involved than one for a consumer. It often requires vendor searches, RFP’s, approvals, etc. In many cases, more people are involved and there can be a long sales cycle. You may need to apply to get on a company’s shortlist before they’ll even approach you for goods or services. Follow up and persistence in this case are crucial, and social media can play a supporting role here.
You need to understand the buyer’s industry, how it operates and how their decisions are influenced by their position in the channel (supplier, manufacturer, wholesaler, distributor or retailer). Partner or personal relationships may also affect their buying behavior. This could be your starting point for choosing the right social sites, such as those related to industry associations, related businesses, vendors, etc. And consider the "halo effect" of being a member of the right organizations.
Companies, and the people who work for them, behave very differently from consumers when it comes to social media and many have restrictions on where their employees can surf and the social sites they can use. Most likely, the larger the company the more conservative their policies are going to be. You’ll need to take this into account when choosing social media for reaching your B2B customers.
Bizographics:
- Title
- Credentials
- Department
- Function
- Seniority/Influence/Power
- Responsibilities
- Industry
- Employees
- Revenue
- Locations
- Headquarter Location
- Seats (commonly used in the software industry)
How to Determine Your Target Market (Audience)
You're going to want to learn the following:
You're going to want to learn the following:
- Are my prospects or customers using social media?
- What sites do they visit?
- Why do they go to these sites?
- What do they do there?
- What do they contribute?
- How often do they visit?
To answer the questions above, you'll need to source the following information:
- Your overall marketing goals.
- Customer profiles by geography, demographics, psychographics and behaviors of consumers and the people who influence them. If you sell to businesses, create bizographic profiles.
- Think about how your audience may be using social media.
- Check your website stats to see if you’re already getting any traffic from social sources.
- Ask your existing customers if they’re familiar with social media. If so, ask them which sites they use and what they do there. Note: Some may not be or have negative feelings about them.