Business Link

By Cheryl Reynolds

So you’re ready to start advertising in the local media. Or are you? Don’t make the mistake of marketing your product or service before you’ve defined your customer or client. If you do, you’re just throwing your marketing budget (money!) away.

Contrary to popular belief, marketing isn’t just a matter of placing ads. It is much broader than this, and the starting point of any marketing strategy is to determine who and what you are, and then who your target market and ultimately, your customer, is.

It always amazes me when I drive through large cities and read the billboard advertisements. I’ll often ask my fellow passenger what message he/she takes from the billboard, and it’s amazing how often the advertiser has completely missed the mark. A successful billboard is not the one that is the most creative and expensive, but the one that gets the intended message across to the correct audience at the right time.

Define your customer by getting to know everything you possibly can about him or her. Think carefully about your product or service. Exactly who would want to purchase it? How old is this person? What is her marital status? Where does she live? How does she like to spend her spare time? What are her hobbies? What other products does she buy? Does she buy your competitors’ product and why? Where does she go on vacation? Who influences her decisions?

The generic areas that you are trying to identify in terms of your target market are geographic, demographic and psychographic. In short, you are trying to determine the segment of the population that needs your product, as well as the segment that want your product, and where you will find them.

If you can’t visualize this person clearly, then you need to research your potential customer or client until you can. Because until you can define your target market, you won’t be able to make the decisions that need to be made about marketing, such as how, where, and when to market, and through which medium.

Use various mediums for gathering this information. It may be holding focus groups, conducting market research through the internet, reading volumes and volumes of books, or various other activities.

Identifying your marketing targets enables you to find opportunities and tap into them. It gives you the information needed to focus on the buyers that are interested in what you have to offer. This can save you both time and money in an ever-changing society.

Cheryl Reynolds is the owner of CRC Communications.
If you have any questions regarding this article, please contact her on: 082 572 6055 or email creynolds@absamail.co.za