By Sean Ashcroft
WHEN discussing segmenting a target audience, many people do not see beyond existing customers. Yet what about the segmentation of prospective customers and clients? This is important, too.
When seeking new business it’s crucial to establish whether there’s a market for your products and services. Plus, you need to identify the type of people that constitute ideal customers. This may be based on existing customer profiles, or maybe you wish to expand your horizons and identify new classes of customer.
Whatever your ambitions, the key thing is to paint pictures of the type of individuals that represent members of your target audience. Your prospect, are likely to have different needs, wants, values and opinions – and they will respond quite differently, depending on the marketing method you use.
Marketing Donut cites the following examples of the vastly different customer prospects that can form a company’s target audience:
Mature males; disposable income; retired, or in semi retirement; live in a rural environment.
Teenage girls; living in cities; low disposable income; aspirations to enjoy life to the full.
These are extreme examples, but they show just how different segments can be and why it’s crucial to target communications precisely, and not send the same messages across an entire customer base.
As you analyze your customer base, it will become clear there are a number of distinct groups with specific requirements.
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14 Jul 2010
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