Widening Your Target Market
If you are looking to grow your business and increase revenue, one tried and tested way of achieving this is through widening your target market. It isn’t always a simple process, however with the right research, strategy and marketing tactics you can successfully grow your customer base.
This isn’t a suitable strategy for all businesses. Many small businesses that are just starting up make the mistake of never properly defining who their target market is. Keen to get their products on the market, some new entrepreneurs deploy mass marketing techniques in the hopes that anyone and everyone will buy from them.
Mass marketing is not necessarily a bad thing, after all it is a common technique used by the global e-commerce site Amazon. Many of Amazon’s marketing campaigns aim to sell the same product to almost anyone. However, even Amazon began with a small, niche audience. In the mid to late 1990’s the company just sold books online. This was a very specific target market which grew as the business gained traction and more and more diverse products were added to their portfolio.
Before you even begin to think about establishing a wider market, you should ensure that you have a good understanding of who your target market is and that you are able to create effective advertising campaigns for a specific, well defined group of people.
Defining Your Market
If you already have a customer base. One of the first steps to defining your target market is by taking a closer look at who is already buying your products or services. You can then identify what traits and characteristics they have in common.
Demographics that you are likely to identify could include age range, gender or location. Try to investigate beyond the obvious and you may discover commonalities such as shared interests and behaviours that can help you to plan for effective campaigns.
If you have customers in several different demographics then you may need to look at other types of market segmentation. This could be geographical, behavioral, or psychographic i.e. their values or personality.
Reaching Wider Target Markets
Once you are confident that you can define and target customers in your current market, you can begin to look at how you might widen it. Companies across all different industries begin to scale up their business using this strategy, with one example being iGaming. The gaming industry is fiercely competitive, with the online gambling market expected to be worth $87.75 billion dollars by 2024.
In such a competitive environment it is important for game operators to regularly produce new games and keep their casinos looking fresh. One way in which they widen their target audience is through launching new games with a diverse range of themes. This ensures that a wider variety of people with various interests are attracted to what is on offer, for example, themes featuring on NJ online slots range from comic book heroes, famous musicians and even ancient events.
Companies in the beauty and cosmetics industries have also been known to broaden their market. One business that has taken steps to widen their target market is the Dollar Shave Club. This company is well known for its humorous brand image and sarcastic, to-the-point tone of voice.
Originally targeted at men, Dollar Shave Club has expanded through targeting women as well. However rather than actually changing their physical product they have done this through targeted advertising that speaks specifically to women. Their social media promotion often uses tag lines such as “You don’t need a pink razor to get a badass lady shave.” They have stayed true to their brand style and product and have instead used targeted persuasive marketing techniques to expand their offering to include another demographic.
Getting the Age Right
Age is another demographic to consider, businesses in many industries, particularly those in media and television production, aim for the 18 – 34-year-old demographic. High amounts of competition and having too many options on offer can saturate the market and make it difficult for businesses to stand out or establish loyalty. In this case, expanding to include other age groups such as Gen Z’s or Baby Boomers could be an effective growth strategy.
When targeting a new age demographic, it is important to do extensive research into what their needs and interests are and not be misled by wrongful assumptions or stereotypes.
You should also consider when and how you promote your products. For example, your social media advertising may include Twitter and Facebook but if you want to reach younger audiences then implementing campaigns on social channels such as Instagram and TikTok will help you to improve your reach in this market.
Who is the Face of Your Product?
You should also consider who you feature in your promotional materials. Say that you are a fashion brand, widening your target market to include women over 50, then you should look to include this category in your advertisements. Potential customers are much more likely to engage if they feel included and can identify with those featured.
For retail stores and hospitality businesses, one obvious way of widening your target market is geographically. This would likely involve setting up other premises in different cities, regions or countries. Widening geographically could also be achieved through expanding your distribution channels. For example, a small high street store might set up a website and sell their stock online and deliver it. This allows them to reach customers who would not travel to their physical store as well as those across in a much wider geographical area.
Widening your target market is a popular strategy for businesses looking to grow and increase revenue. Providing that you carry out the right research, develop a good understanding of who your current and potential customers are and plan your strategy thoroughly, widening your market should help you to achieve just that.
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