Understanding Your Target Market

Most businesses believe they know exactly who their “ideal” client is, where they live, where they work, their average age,  and why they became a client.  Ninety (90%) of the time, businesses are wrong about this data.  Why?  Because they are viewing their business or service from their perspective, not their clients.

So, how do you define your target market/ future client?  The best way to do this is to survey your current clients.  Find out why they chose your firm, what they like about your services, what they like about you, and what they like about your staff. If you have a lot of reviews, then go through those reviews and look for common threads like, “empathic”, “professional,” “educated,” “thorough,” “tough”, “fair”,etc… 

If you notice that most of your reviews or survey results comment on your professionalism and education, that means your marketing campaigns and website should be geared toward promoting your education, experience and awards and less on your emotional approach.  

If you notice that most of your reviews or survey results comment on your understanding nature, empathic, etc… then you want to devote more of your marketing to emphasize your hands-on , clients are family approach. 

This is one of the most important areas to research thoroughly before you launch a marketing campaign, ad or even a new website.  Knowing why people like you and trust you is critical to successful marketing. If you skip this step and focus on why you think your clients use you, you will be missing huge opportunities!

Target marketing isn’t just about the copy, but also how you present yourself and staff in photos.  If your clients comment frequently on our professionalism, then you want to present yourself more formally with a jacket and tie and professional dressed staff. If clients like your compassionate, caring approach then a jacket without a tie may work best.

Another important step in target marketing is to look at your in-house data and compile information on what neighborhoods (zip codes) most of your current clients live.  Do you have a higher percentage of clients that are men or women? This data will help you target your marketing to the best areas for your location and also give you an idea of how far people are willing to travel to your office.

Also, if you have data on your client’s annual income and age, this gives you good information about the demographic that responds best to your business.  

By compiling this data before your draft your marketing campaign you can:

1. Design and write ads that appeal to your ideal clients.
2. Design your website to fit your best attributes (as defined by your clients, not you!).
3. Strategize and budget for PPC and other campaigns based on areas and demographics that historically respond well to you.
4. Dramatically improve your marketing results.