If you have begun your marketing initiatives and have not identified your target market, you may be wasting your money. Marketing involves more than just placing ads all over the place to get your name out there. The best strategies get your products and services in front of those who will benefit most from them, those who are most likely to purchase them. This is your target audience. These are tips for defining your market.

Learn About Your Competition

Your competition is servicing the same target market, so you need to know everything you can about their products and services, including their quality and prices. Find out where they are positioned in the market, and learn about their marketing strategies. Who are they marketing to directly?

Determine Your Market’s Demographics

When you are creating your marketing plan, you need to understand the demographics of your target market. Your product or service should either fulfill a need or desire or solve a problem for a specific group of people. This group has similar characteristics, such as age, gender, household size and makeup, socioeconomic status, and location.

When you identify your market demographics, you can research the publications, websites, TV channels, and other media that they get their information from.

Identify Other Key Characteristics of Your Market

Your next step is to identify your target audience’s other key characteristics. For example, you should know their lifestyles. For example, is your product useful for working mothers, single men, retired couples, etc. Then, learn what these individuals enjoy doing during their spare time. For example, do they go mountain biking, skiing, and four-wheeling, or do they enjoy reading, knitting, and hiking? If they have children, what are their children’s activities?

You can also learn about your target market’s shopping habits, including what they spend their money on. Their habits and lifestyles will likely give you an idea, but dig further. For example, the single mother may be too busy to go to the store and take her time shopping, so she may do most of her shopping online and have her groceries delivered. However, the retired couple may enjoy the social aspect of going to the store, walking around, and visiting with people. They may even stop at a restaurant and meet friends for lunch.

Finally, find out where your target market takes their vacations and what activities they enjoy while they are out and about.

As you narrow down your target audience, you can begin visualizing these individuals and identifying what truly matters to them. Then, you can create a dynamic marketing plan that meets them where they are.