Figuring out your target market is a difficult task, but in the world of social media, it doesn’t have to be. Nowadays it’s easier than ever. There has already been a lot of research done on how to market to different generations which area easy to find online. There are many tools at your fingertips to help you, but knowing which tools and methods to use isn’t always intuitively easy. We’ve done some research for you to help you on your way:
#1 Do Your Research
Market research is the bedrock of effective marketing. It’s importance can’t be 
emphasised enough. But what exactly does it entail? Marketing is essentially narrowing your focus. But before you can do that effectively, you need as much data as possible.Researching data on the population and region in which you hope to sell your product or service, and doing it thoroughly, is going to make the rest of the task of marketing much easier. Just remember: the more data, the better decisions you’ll make. The last thing you want to do is start selling without as complete a picture as you can make.
#2 Filter to Find Your Target Market
Okay, so now you have your data. You have mountains of it. Now what to do with it? Once you have enough data gathered, then it’s time to use the funnel approach. As Forbes puts it:your first bucket might be gender. If your product or service is gender-specific, you can immediately narrow your audience. Your second filter might be age range. If you manufacture surfboards, marketing your product to octogenarians might result in very limited success. Your third and final sieve might be income level…”
This will help you “paint a picture” of the kind of person or people you want to sell to. If you can narrow the seemingly nebulous blob of unknown faces into a picture of one person representing all of them, it’ll be much easier to market to them. It’s even a common marketing practice to give that person a name as shorthand for your target market. Do it if it helps!
#3 Ask Questions to Narrow Your Focus Further
Now you feel you have a fairly focused target market in mind. However, you don’t want to fall into the pitfall of overestimating your market, or miss something fundamental about the group you’ve defined as your target. Once you have an idea of your target audience, it’s time to start asking pointed questions to find what you might have missed.
Entrepreneur has a few good examples to start with, such as: “Who has already bought from me?”, “What does my network think?”, or “Is there room to expand my target market?” The last questions is particularly useful, because you’ll be needing to redefine your target audience on a regular basis to keep up or even anticipate changes in the market.
Our team here at anova Digital Marketing want to help you define, find, and reach your target market online. If you’re interested in our services or just want to find out more about what we do, send us a message today and we’ll be happy to help!
