What Is Target Marketing?

Dont trust Kevin Costner for marketing advice is probably a good rule of thumb.
This article is part of our Business Startup Guide a curated list of our articles that will
get you up and running in no time!
If you build it, they will come.
Thats what I believed, when I was first starting out. I assumed that if I opened a business,
customers would just show upno major marketing effort required. Other entrepreneurs take
the complete opposite approach, and treat marketing as if its the 1916 Battle of the Somme:
they throw all of their resources in the general direction of their intended audience and hope
something hits its mark.
Hear more about finding your target market with Peter and Jonathan on the twelfth episode
of The Bcast, Bplans official podcast:
Click here to subscribe to The Bcast on iTunes
Fortunately, in-between these two approaches is a strategy that actually works: target
marketing.
See Also: How to Define Your Target Market

What is target marketing?

Target marketing is about attracting customers who will buy what youre selling.
Of course, theres more to it than that. After all, youre not a magnet and this isnt The Secret
in order to target market effectively, youll need to know exactlywho purchases your
products and exactly how to to reach them. And acquiring that kind of knowledge requires
some research and planning on your end.

The evolution of target marketing

Target marketing is the most current method of marketing to consumers based on research
into their interests, hobbies, and needs, and it didnt spring from nothing. Before we got here,
advertisers and marketers were using cohort marketing, and before that they were using
generational marketing. Target marketing is essentially a refinement of these ideas.
Generational marketing
Prior to the 1960s and 70s, most American adultsdepending on their gendermore or less
followed a similar life script. For men, it was to join the military or go to school, get married,
start a career, have kids and then, after 30 years with the same company, retire with a nice
pension and a gold watch. Their wives stayed at home and did the real work of running a
household and raising kids.
For businesses back then, marketing was easy. If you were a small business, you knew all of
your customers by name. And if your company was big enough, it had only a few marketing
options: place an ad in the local newspaper, or in one of a handful of national magazines, or
on one of three broadcast TV networks. From a marketing perspective, people were
dependable.
Blame it on the Beatles or disco, but by the early 1980s everything had changed. Advertisers
came up with what they called generational marketinginstead of defining everybody by
gender and stage of life, they began to consider things like demographics and socio-economic
factors when targeting customers.
Cohort marketing

Marketers soon realized that even generational marketing wasnt going to be enough to keep
up with the seismic shifts in American culture and attitudes. Despite coming of age at the
same time, lots of people were behaving quite differently.
With advances in technology like credit cards and store loyalty programs came a solution:
cohort marketing. Suddenly it was possible to market to people based on their past purchases
and buying patterns, because we could track those purchases and buying patterns. And as it
turns out, this is a highly effective method of grouping consumers for targeted advertising.
Today, things are changing faster than ever before, and we have access to more data on our
consumers than ever before. Its a pretty incredible time to be in marketing.
See Also: Target Marketing 101 [Infographic]

Identifying your target market

Target Marketing 101: click here to view the infographic

Hopefully youre here because youre serious about building and growing your business
this is a good place to start putting your plan for world domination into action.
One of your first steps in starting a business (or growing one) is identifying your market.
Once youve identified your market, you can begin targeting the people who will pay for all
of your businesss explosive growth: your customers!
Your target market can be broken down into four who, where, why and how components:
The who: Demographics
Who needs your product or service? Include basic demographic details such as age, gender,
family size, educational level, and occupation here.
The where: Geographics
Where are your customers? These are the places your customers can be found (i.e., their zip
code), and be sure to learn details like the size of the area, its population density, and its
climate.
The why: Psychographics

Why do your customers make the choices they make? This is personality and lifestyle
information that will help you figure out your customers buying patterns. For example, if
you know why your customers buy your product, you can figure out how much of your
product they need and how often they need to buy it. Also consider what benefits you can
provide over your competitors, and how loyal your customers are to you or your competitor
(and why).
The how: Behaviors
How do your customers behave? All customers are buying products to fulfill a need, but how
do they regard that need? How do they regard your product? How much information do they
have on this need or how your product fulfills it, and what are their information sources?
See Also: How to Write a Market Analysis

Researching your target market

New technologies can make nailing down your demographics and psychographics much
easier (and cheaper) than in the past.
If you run social media profiles for your business, most social sites provide a free
demographic breakdown of your followers in the admin area. If you have your customers
email addresses, services like Rapleaf can pull detailed demographic information for you. If
you have your customers zip codes, there is a ton of free information available to you from
the U.S. Census Bureauit might not drill down to your exact customers households, but
its free and its a very good starting point.
Data from your payment processor or inventory history could also be helpful. What are your
customers buying, and when? How much is the average purchase in your store? What time of
day is busiest? When do purchases spike, and when do they fall, and can you develop any
hypotheses to explain the fluctuations?
You can also use email, phone, or in-person customer surveys. You dont necessarily need
large numbers of participants to learn more about your customer baseyou might be
surprised how much youll take away from just 5-10 good conversations. If youre worried
about being able to recruit survey participants, offer a free gift or store credit.
At the bare minimum, these are the things you should know about your target customers:

What is their gender? Yes, this is the 21st century, but women and men still make
very different purchasing decisions for a variety of complex reasons.

How old are they? 18-49 wont fly anymore. Millennials and Boomers are as far
apart as Google Glass and those big green sunglasses your grandmother bought to wear
over her prescription lenses. You love your Gran, but shes not buying your new Machete
Tyrannosaurus 3 app. Sorry, shes just not.

What are their interests or hobbies? Finding out what people are into will help you
connect with them. Even if they dont buy from you, youve made a new friend. Everyone
needs friends.

Where do they live? Is geography a limiting factor for your customers (or for you)?
Are they able to get to you easily? Is there plenty of parking? Public transportation? Can
you deliver? I once purchased a coffee shop tucked in a strip mall between an antique store
and a Golds Gym. On the upside, most of my 12 or so regular customers were either super
fit or could fix an old watch.

How do they make a living? Knowing what your primary customers do can help you
adjust your hours to fit their needs, or help you devise special offers. People like to feel
special.

How much money do they make? Whether youre selling gold-plated sailboats or
glow sticks in bulk, its a good idea to know how muchor how littleyour customers
are willing to spend.

Do they own their own homes or do they rent? Depending on the answer and what
you sell, you may need to tweak your messaging to resonate with your audience.

The key here is to collect information, and then compare it to the assumptions youve made
about your customers. Whats surprising? What strikes you as an untapped opportunity? Did
you hear the same or similar complaints/suggestions from multiple people?
This may also be a good time to create a buyer persona for your business, and/or to conduct a
SWOT analysis of your business, so you can develop a fully fleshed-out business strategy.

How to use target marketing

Whether youre still in the process of starting your business, looking for an innovative
opportunity to grow your business, or want to protect the business youve already built, target
marketing is a tool you can employ.

Beating your competition in niche markets

If youre opening a bookstore or selling sporting goods, youve got some big-time
competition. Mega-retailers like Amazon and REI arent just going to give up a piece of their
pie to a scrappy upstart. Lucky for you, were living in the days of the niche market! You can
use target marketing to carve out your own space in the marketplace.

CASE STUDY: THE WIRELESS INDUSTRY

The wireless industry is a great example of small businesses succeeding with niche markets
and target marketing. The biggest wireless providersAT&T, Verizon, Sprintare focused
on the biggest markets, and they have shareholders to answer to every quarter; despite being
multibillion-dollar companies, they dont have the resources (and it isnt in their best interest)
to staff their support centers with multilingual employees or to offer the most competitive
rates on cell phone plans.

Small businesses should run after the niche markets whose interests and
needs are being ignored by big companies.
So you know what they do instead? They run wholesale divisions that sell small businesses
the rights to their wireless networks, and those small businesses then run after the niche
markets whose interests and needs are ignored by the big wireless companies.

Kajeets target market is parents who want restricted cell phones for their children.

SIM Shalom targets Israeli-American immigrants by offering Hebrew-language support and

cheap calls between the U.S. and Israel; Kajeet targets parents who want to offer restricted
phone lines to their young kids, offering the ability to turn off the phones network during
certain periods of the day (like school hours, or bedtime) and to block certain phone numbers
or websites, as well as the ability to activate GPS notifications so that parents know when
their child has arrived at after-school activities; Consumer Cellular targets senior citizens
with simpler plans, a curated selection of phone options, a focus on affordability and
reliability, and a partnership with the AARP; GIV Mobile targets community-minded
individuals who are looking for ways to give back by offering to donate 8 percent of a
users monthly bill to a charity of their choice; and Virgin Mobile is after the youths, with
back to school marketing campaigns, pay-as-you-go plans with no credit required, casual
website and marketing copy, and a focus on trends.
Identifying and focusing on target markets is what defines each of these businesses.
Identifying and focusing on target markets that their competitors arent addressing is what
makes each of these businesses successful.

Today, finding out what your competitors are (and arent) doing can be as easy as running a
Yelp search. Studying your competitors customer feedback can help you identify blind spots
in their businesses that you can exploit for your own gain.

Build a loyal customer base

If youre doing things correctly, youre asking your current customers what they like about
doing business with you.
The great thing about getting to know your customers is that not only will you be able to
track down new customers just like them, but your tried-and-true customers will become
more loyaland spend more money!

CASE STUDY: SEPHORA

Radu Bercan / Shutterstock.com

One example that comes to mind is Sephora, a makeup and skincare retailer. My wife shops
there for her makeup and skincare almost exclusivelywhy?
When I asked her, she didnt say that she shops at Sephora every time she needs makeup and
skincare products because theyre the only place that sells particular items (they arent), or
because they have the best selection (they dont), or because they offer free shipping (only on
orders greater than $50, apparently).
The answer was that she gets really good free samples with her order, and that she
accumulates reward points with every purchase for even bigger and better free samples later.
Even better, the selection of free samples is always changing, and she gets to choose
the samples she wants from a wide selection of options.
By handing out free samples andeven she admittedpretty-close-to-worthless reward
points, Sephoras gained an extremely loyal customer.

Would this strategy work on everyone? No way. But it works really, really well on a 30something woman who wants to feel like her favorite mascara/eye cream/perfume is worth
the hefty price tag.
Clearly, Sephoras tapped into the psychographics of their target customer base.

Getting to know your customers, and giving them what they want, is a surefire way to build a
loyal customer basethe kind that gives your business 5-star reviews online, and that tells all
their friends about how much they love you. (You know, the kind of customers you want.)

In conclusion
The only thing I learned from my do-nothing plan was to never take marketing advice from a
disembodied voice in a Kevin Costner film. Had I done any research at all, I would have
known thats not even the real quote.* The everything-but-the-kitchen-sink marketing plan
usually ends in similar disappointment: a lot of zeros on the bank statement, and all in the
wrong places.
Target marketing is going to require some upfront work, but the rewards are huge, and well
worth the effort.
Defining the Market
Defining your secondary target market is key to knowing how to properly promote it. Take
the time to examine your primary market and determine what side benefit or secondary
market emerges. For example, if you have a commercial carpet cleaning business and
clients ask you while on the job if you ever clean carpets in private homes, residential
homes might be your secondary market.

Piggy Back the Two Markets

The secondary market should be piggy-backed with your primary market. This is
accomplished by tying the two together so customers from your primary target market
are led to understand the secondary target possibilities. Ads and promotions that show
how the two markets overlap lead customers to the secondary market. Commercial
carpet cleaning is not a lot different from residential other than the size of the job. The
reminder for customers that you can clean 40,000 square feet of carpet, leads them to
realize their 1;000 square feet at home can be easily handled.
Related Reading: What Is a Secondary Target Audience?

Advertise Them Together

Advertising designed to promote your secondary market should focus on the secondary
market, while mentioning your primary business. This uses your expertise and reputation
in the primary target market to solidify your trustworthiness in the secondary target

market. For example, placing a testimony from a commercial carpet cleaning customer in
an ad for residential carpet cleaning, helps give your secondary market some clout. A
professional's claim that he also uses your company to clean the carpet where his family
lives makes your case for you.

Offer Coupons
Discount coupons serve a dual purpose. They entice customers in the secondary target
market to try your services or product. In addition, they provide you with a method for
evaluation of your secondary target market promotion. Coupons that do not apply to your
primary product or service will limit responses to your secondary market. As coupons
come in, you will be able to evaluate how well your ads are working.
Ads by Google

Secondary Target Markets

Posted on Aug 27, 2012 in Target Market | Comments Off

Most plans will identify multiple target markets. The primary target markets receive priority and a
majority of the marketing spending, because they will most directly influence the short-term financial
success of the plan. The secondary target markets are also important, because they provide
additional sales and/or influence on the sales to the company beyond that of the primary target
market as well as future sales to the company. A secondary target market can be one of the
following:

A segment currently too small to be a primary market but shown to have future potential. In
some cases, you may identify segments with great growth potential but that currently are very small
in absolute purchasing power. In other cases, there might be a large segment that would become a
primary target as a result of fundamental marketing changes making your product or service more
attractive to this market.

A demographic category with a low volume but a high concentration index. Often there is a
distinct demographic category that accounts for a small percentage of the volume but contains a high
concentration of purchasers. For example, 18- to 24-year-olds may account for only 10 percent of the
total product category purchases, but 50 percent of the 18- to 24-year-olds may purchase the product.
This may be due to popularity of the product among this age group but fewer total purchase occasions
or purchase of more inexpensive product models. In any case, a great percentage of the target uses
the product, providing the opportunity for efficient use of marketing dollars and little wasted coverage
in targeting the segment.
Subsets of purchasers or users who make up the primary target markets. As stated in the
previous section, your primary target market should ideally be one unified profile of customers
accounting for greater than 30 percent of the category volume. This allows for a focusing of resources
and message in the marketing effort. However, there are situations in which the volume of any one
target market is not substantial enough to qualify it as a primary target market. In addition, each
smaller target market has different demographics, needs, wants, product usage, and purchasing
behavior.
Influencers. Influencers can be a primary or secondary target market, though in most
situations they are a secondary target market. These are individuals who influence the purchase or
usage decision of the primary target market. A good example of this is the influence children have on
their parents in the purchase of many consumer goods, from toys to fast food. Another example is the
influence of architects in the use of precast concrete. While the general contractor and the engineer
make the actual purchase decision, the architect has tremendous influence both up front in the design
of the building and in the final selection of material

The marketing mix

The marketing mix is one of the most famous marketing terms. The
marketing mix is the tactical or operational part of a marketing plan. The
marketing mix is also called the 4Ps and the 7Ps. The 4Ps
are price, place, product and promotion. Theservices marketing mix is also
called the 7Ps and includes the addition of process,people and physical
evidence.

The marketing mix is . . . The set of controllable

tactical marketing tools product, price, place, and
promotion that the firm blends to produce the
response it wants in the target market.
Kotler and Armstrong (2010).

The concept is simple. Think about another common mix a cake mix. All
cakes contain eggs, milk, flour, and sugar. However, you can alter the final
cake by altering the amounts of mix elements contained in it. So for a sweet
cake add more sugar!
It is the same with the marketing mix. The offer you make to
your customer can be altered by varying the mix elements. So for a
high profile brand, increase the focus on promotion and desensitize the
weight given to price.
Another way to think about the marketing mix is to use the image of an
artists palette. The marketer mixes the prime colours (mix elements) in
different quantities to deliver a particular final colour. Every hand painted
picture is original in some way, as is every marketing mix. Lets look at the
elements of the marketing mix in more detail. Click on the links to go to the
lesson on each element.
Price

Price is the amount the consumer must exchange to

receive the offering .
Solomon et al (2009).
The companys goal in terms of price is really to reduce costs through
improving manufacturing and efficiency, and most importantly the marketer
needs to increase the perceived value of the benefits of its products and
services to the buyer or consumer.
There are many ways to price a product. Lets have a look at some of them
and try to understand the best policy/strategy in various
situations.
Place

Place includes company activities that make the

product available to target consumers.
Kotler and Armstrong (2010).

Place is also known as channel, distribution, or intermediary. It is the

mechanism through which goods and/or services are moved from the
manufacturer/ service provider to the user or consumer.

The Marketing Mix

Product

Product means the goods-and-services combination

the company offers to the target market.
Kotler and Armstrong (2010).
For many a product is simply the tangible, physical item that we buy or sell.
You can also think of the product as intangible i.e. a service.
In order to actively explore the nature of a product further, lets consider it as
three different products the CORE product, the ACTUAL product, and finally
the AUGMENTED product.
The Product Life Cycle (PLC) is based upon the biological life cycle. For
example, a seed is planted (introduction); it begins to sprout (growth); it
shoots out leaves and puts down roots as it becomes an adult (maturity);

after a long period as an adult the plant begins to shrink and die out
(decline).
The Customer Life Cycle (CLC) has obvious similarities with the Product Life
Cycle (PLC). However, CLC focuses upon the creation and delivery of lifetime
value to the customer i.e. looks at the products or services that customers
NEED throughout their lives.
Promotion

Promotion includes all of the activities marketers

undertake to inform consumers about their products
and to encourage potential customers to buy these
products.
Solomon et al (2009).
Promotion includes all of the tools available to the marketer for marketing
communication. As with Neil H. Bordens marketing mix, marketing
communications has its own promotions mix. Whilst there is no absolute
agreement on the specific content of a marketing communications mix, there
are many promotions elements that are often included such as
sales, advertising, sales promotion, public relations,direct marketing, online
communications and personal selling.
Physical Evidence

(Physical evidence is) . . . The environment in which

the service is delivered, and where the firm and
customer interact, and any tangible components that
facilitate performance or communication of the
service.
Zeithaml et al (2008)
Physical Evidence is the material part of a service. Strictly speaking there are
no physical attributes to a service, so a consumer tends to rely on material
cues. There are many examples of physical evidence, including some of the

following buildings, equipment, signs and logos, annual accounts and

business reports, brochures, your website, and even your business cards.
People

(People are) . . . All human actors who play a part in

service delivery and thus influence the buyers
perceptions; namely, the firms personnel, the
customer, and other customers in the service
environment.
Zeithaml et al (2008).
People are the most important element of any service or experience. Services
tend to be produced and consumed at the same moment, and aspects of the
customer experience are altered to meet the individual needs of the person
consuming it.
Process

Process is) . . . The actual procedures, mechanisms,

and flow of activities by which the service is delivered
this service delivery and operating systems.
Zeithaml et al (2008).
There are a number of perceptions of the concept of process within the
business and marketing literature. Some see processes as a means to
achieve an outcome, for example to achieve a 30% market share a
company implements a marketing planning process. However in reality it is
more about the customer interface between the business and consumer and
how they deal with each other in a series of steps in stages, i.e. throughout
the process.

MARKETING THEORIES THE MARKETING MIX FROM

4 PS TO 7 PS
Visit our Marketing Theories Page to see more of our marketing
buzzword busting blogs.
Marketing is a continually evolving discipline and as such can be one that
companies find themselves left very much behind the competition if they
stand still for too long. One example of this evolution has been the
fundamental changes to the basic Marketing mix. Where once there were 4
Ps to explain the mix, nowadays it is more commonly accepted that a more
developed 7 Ps adds a much needed additional layer of depth to the
Marketing Mix with some theorists going even going further.
Before we get carried away though what is the Marketing Mix and what is
the original 4 Ps principle?
THE MARKETING MIX
Simply put the Marketing Mix is a tool used by businesses and Marketers to
help determine a product or brands offering. The 4 Ps have been
associated with the Marketing Mix since their creation by E. Jerome
McCarthy in 1960 (You can see why there may have been some need to
update the theory).

The Marketing Mix 4 Ps:

Product - The Product should fit the task consumers want it for, it
should work and it should be what the consumers are expecting to get.

Place The product should be available from where your target

consumer finds it easiest to shop. This may be High Street, Mail Order
or the more current option via e-commerce or an online shop.

Price The Product should always be seen as representing good

value for money. This does not necessarily mean it should be the
cheapest available; one of the main tenets of the marketing concept is
that customers are usually happy to pay a little more for something that
works really well for them.

Promotion Advertising, PR, Sales Promotion, Personal Selling

and, in more recent times, Social Media are all key communication tools
for an organisation. These tools should be used to put across the
organisations message to the correct audiences in the manner they
would most like to hear, whether it be informative or appealing to their
emotions.
In the late 70s it was widely acknowledged by Marketers that the Marketing
Mix should be updated. This led to the creation of the Extended Marketing
Mix in 1981 by Booms & Bitner which added 3 new elements to the 4 Ps
Principle. This now allowed the extended Marketing Mix to include products
that are services and not just physical things.

The extended 7 Ps:

People All companies are reliant on the people who run them from
front line Sales staff to the Managing Director. Having the right people is
essential because they are as much a part of your business offering as
the products/services you are offering.

Processes The delivery of your service is usually done with the

customer present so how the service is delivered is once again part of
what the consumer is paying for.

Physical Evidence Almost all services include some physical

elements even if the bulk of what the consumer is paying for is
intangible. For example a hair salon would provide their client with a
completed hairdo and an insurance company would give their
customers some form of printed material. Even if the material is not
physically printed (in the case of PDFs) they are still receiving a
physical product by this definition.
Though in place since the 1980s the 7 Ps are still widely taught due to
their fundamental logic being sound in the marketing environment and
marketers abilities to adapt the Marketing Mix to include changes in
communications such as social media, updates in the places which you can
sell a product/service or customers expectations in a constantly changing
commercial environment.

Is there an 8th P?
In some spheres of thinking, there are 8 Ps in the Marketing Mix. The final
P is Productivity and Quality. This came from the old Services Marketing
Mix and is folded in to the Extended Marketing Mix by some marketers so
what does it mean?

The 8th P of the Marketing Mix:

Productivity & Quality - This P asks is what youre offering your

customer a good deal? This is less about you as a business improving
your own productivity for cost management, and more about how your
company passes this onto its customers.

Even after 31 years (or 54 in the case of the original Ps) the Marketing Mix
is still very much applicable to a marketers day to day work. A good
marketer will learn to adapt the theory to fit with not only modern times but
their individual business model.
At Professional Academy the Marketing Mix is used across all of
our marketing qualifications and first taught as part of theCIM
Foundation Certificate in Professional Marketing but every level of
qualification there are nods back to the Marketing Mix Ps in some way
shape or form so making them key knowledge for any marketer to be used

alongside other Marketing theories such as SWOT Analysis, PESTEL

Theory, the Boston Consulting Group Matrix and Stakeholder Mapping.
For more information on the Professional Academys Marketing
Qualifications please download a Prospectus today.
For more in-depth information on the Marketing Mix you can download
this Free CIM Guide to Marketing and the 7 Ps

10 Steps to Marketing Plan

Success
September 21, 2011 - Posted by Daniel Kehrer to Local Marketing

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Youve probably heard it before: Much like having a

business plan is crucial to launching and growing a business, having amarketing plan is critical to
reaching customers and selling successfully.
OK, great. But now what? How can you create a marketing plan quickly and simply? First know
that marketing is not a single action but a combination of steps that your business takes to
identify, attract and retain profitablecustomers. It includes everything from market research,

advertising, pricing and packaging, to what employees wear, your mix of print and online ads and
much more.
In short, marketing is the very core of your business. Its important to have a plan of attack. For
example, can you clearly identify your mission and what sets you apart from your competitors?
Its tough to market without this knowledge.
Marketing plans are flexible but generally include your goals, product or service descriptions,
target markets, competitive analysis, pricing, distribution methods (print, digital, mobile, etc.) and
action plan. These 10 steps can help you prepare your plan:
1.

Mission: This is your cornerstone. Write a short paragraph that defines what compelling
advantage or value you offer, including how it solves a problem and makes the customers
life easier. Be specific. Pinpoint the customer pain that your product or service will
relieve. Before you can effectively market yourself create ads, websites or online
campaigns you must decide what type of problem solver you want your business to be.

2.

Market research: This is how you identify customers needs and wants. Build a detailed,
trait-by-trait profile of your ideal prospects. Again, be as specific as possible. Later, when
you create your marketing messages, aim those messages at those prospects. The
research does not need to be complex or costly. Online research, one-on-one interviews
with prospects, informal focus groups and email or web-based surveys are all inexpensive
and relatively easy to do.

3.

Define your product or service: Carefully identify every product or service you offer.
Some products or services can be broken into pieces and priced separately. List all the
benefits that you can offer. You will want to incorporate those in your marketing message.

4.

Check the competition: Identify your key competitors both direct and indirect
including their strengths and weaknesses, and how your business compares. Write down
your analysis and make it part of your plan.

5.

Prepare proper pricing: Analyze your pricing structure and avoid the markup mistake.
That is when a business merely calculates the costs and adds a set markup. Instead, use
your market research to establish what customers arewilling to pay and build the pricing
around that.

6.

Build a budget and promotion mix: Dont think of marketing as a cost, but rather as
your ace in the hole. This is what gives you the edge over competitors who dont do
marketing or do it poorly. Also, your employees are better motivated when your business is
in the public eye. Look for marketing partners that can offer you multiple ways to split your
spend through a single provider, or that offer some type of action guarantee.

7.

Match marketing to your target terrain: If yours is a local market, then thats where
your marketing focus should be. Once you have the basics covered, consider marketing
neighborhood by neighborhood, block by block and even customer by customer.

8.

Marketing metrics: Build testing and metrics into your plan. Marketing should not be
risky or single-focus. One advantage of advertising online is the ability to track results
effortlessly.

9.

Prepare a marketing message that resonates: Craft a rallying cry a small, repeatable
phrase that becomes the slogan for promoting your product, idea or business. Fine-tune
all messages. Edit, revise and hone every word so they are as focused and punchy as
possible. Coordinate key phrases in all your marketing materials. For maximum impact,
repeat critical messages verbatim whenever you can.

10. Include an action plan: Simplify everything; eliminate potential interruptions in the sales
process and make decision-making as painless as possible for your customers. Make sure
your employees grasp your objectives and strategy and plan to market continuously. Your
effort must be ongoing or people will quickly forget.

10 Steps to Marketing Plan

Success
September 21, 2011 - Posted by Daniel Kehrer to Local Marketing

inShare31
5

0
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Youve probably heard it before: Much like having a

business plan is crucial to launching and growing a business, having amarketing plan is critical to
reaching customers and selling successfully.
OK, great. But now what? How can you create a marketing plan quickly and simply? First know
that marketing is not a single action but a combination of steps that your business takes to
identify, attract and retain profitablecustomers. It includes everything from market research,
advertising, pricing and packaging, to what employees wear, your mix of print and online ads and
much more.
In short, marketing is the very core of your business. Its important to have a plan of attack. For
example, can you clearly identify your mission and what sets you apart from your competitors?
Its tough to market without this knowledge.
Marketing plans are flexible but generally include your goals, product or service descriptions,
target markets, competitive analysis, pricing, distribution methods (print, digital, mobile, etc.) and
action plan. These 10 steps can help you prepare your plan:
1.

Mission: This is your cornerstone. Write a short paragraph that defines what compelling
advantage or value you offer, including how it solves a problem and makes the customers
life easier. Be specific. Pinpoint the customer pain that your product or service will
relieve. Before you can effectively market yourself create ads, websites or online
campaigns you must decide what type of problem solver you want your business to be.

2.

Market research: This is how you identify customers needs and wants. Build a detailed,
trait-by-trait profile of your ideal prospects. Again, be as specific as possible. Later, when
you create your marketing messages, aim those messages at those prospects. The
research does not need to be complex or costly. Online research, one-on-one interviews
with prospects, informal focus groups and email or web-based surveys are all inexpensive
and relatively easy to do.

3.

Define your product or service: Carefully identify every product or service you offer.
Some products or services can be broken into pieces and priced separately. List all the
benefits that you can offer. You will want to incorporate those in your marketing message.

4.

Check the competition: Identify your key competitors both direct and indirect
including their strengths and weaknesses, and how your business compares. Write down
your analysis and make it part of your plan.

5.

Prepare proper pricing: Analyze your pricing structure and avoid the markup mistake.
That is when a business merely calculates the costs and adds a set markup. Instead, use
your market research to establish what customers arewilling to pay and build the pricing
around that.

6.

Build a budget and promotion mix: Dont think of marketing as a cost, but rather as
your ace in the hole. This is what gives you the edge over competitors who dont do
marketing or do it poorly. Also, your employees are better motivated when your business is
in the public eye. Look for marketing partners that can offer you multiple ways to split your
spend through a single provider, or that offer some type of action guarantee.

7.

Match marketing to your target terrain: If yours is a local market, then thats where
your marketing focus should be. Once you have the basics covered, consider marketing
neighborhood by neighborhood, block by block and even customer by customer.

8.

Marketing metrics: Build testing and metrics into your plan. Marketing should not be
risky or single-focus. One advantage of advertising online is the ability to track results
effortlessly.

9.

Prepare a marketing message that resonates: Craft a rallying cry a small, repeatable
phrase that becomes the slogan for promoting your product, idea or business. Fine-tune
all messages. Edit, revise and hone every word so they are as focused and punchy as
possible. Coordinate key phrases in all your marketing materials. For maximum impact,
repeat critical messages verbatim whenever you can.

10. Include an action plan: Simplify everything; eliminate potential interruptions in the sales
process and make decision-making as painless as possible for your customers. Make sure
your employees grasp your objectives and strategy and plan to market continuously. Your
effort must be ongoing or people will quickly forget.

The Four Types of Target Marketing

by Jonathan Lister , studioD

External variables affect you business as consumers change their behaviors.

Related Articles

Examples of a Target Market

3 Main Activities of Target Marketing
The Disadvantages of Target Marketing

Difference Between Differentiated Marketing Strategy and Concentrated

Marketing Strategy
Define Market Segmentation & Targeting
Target marketing for your small business is the product of extensive research into your
consumer base and the needs of the local market. There are several types of target
marketing your company may take advantage of depending on how you wish to generate
interest with consumers. Combining a couple strategies can garner more attention from a
wider base of potential customers.
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Age Target Marketing

Targeting a product to a particular age group or generational cohort is a way to
concentrate your marketing efforts and generate product interest within that particular
group. According to "Entrepreneur"'s website, extensive research is necessary for age or
generational marketing to determine the status and living situations of consumers in
your potential target group. For example, a middle-aged woman in the modern era may
still be on the dating circuit and not looking to settle down any time soon just as easily as
a woman in the same age group could have a family.

Income-Sensitive Marketing
Income-sensitive marketing seeks to target your small business's services or products to
consumers of particular income and economic status. This strategy also shapes the
prices you charge for your goods and services as well as the marketing campaign itself.
For example, products marketed to consumers with higher incomes will usually have
higher prices while those products marketed to consumers with lower incomes will
usually have correspondingly lower prices. This allows more consumers in your target
market group to afford your products.

Gender-Specific Marketing
Gender-specific marketing shapes an advertising campaign toward one gender or specific
group within that gender. For example, target marketing toward pregnant women seeks
to generate more interest in your small business's goods and services within that
particular group. How your small business accomplishes this task depends on the
outcome of your market research and gender needs within your local marketplace. This
research may influence the types of images, colors and language you use in your
marketing campaign to attract your target gender or gender group to your company's
products or services.

Geographic Target Marketing

Geographic areas across the country have different product needs. Targeting a marketing
campaign to meet the signature geographic demands of consumers in your marketplace
can boost your company's importance and necessity in the minds of consumers. This
strategy also works with seasonal marketing campaigns to take advantage of shifting
consumer moods as the weather turns hot or cold. For example, many beverage
companies roll out pumpkin-flavored hot drinks during the fall to catch consumers
turning attention toward Thanksgiving and colder weather.
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May 2009 Issue

Creating a Business and Marketing Plan 10 Steps to Success
By Beverly Price, RD, MA, E-RYT
Todays Dietitian
Vol. 11 No. 5 P. 22
How does it feel when you instruct your patients to keep food records and they fail to follow through with the
task? As a private practitioner, it can be very frustrating, as the food, exercise, and emotions journal often guides
your clinical sessions. Without this, you may feel as though you are grasping for straws to try to put the pieces
together for your clients and keep them goal oriented and on a straight, systematic road to healing.
As a business professional, your business and marketing plan is really no different than a clients food journal. If
you shoot arrows in the dark, attempting to reach your target, it can become frustrating if you cannot see your
target in the first place. Knowing the keys to creating a successful business and marketing plan is vital.
1. The Executive Summary
This is the first section of your business plan in which you state the name of your business, the products and/or
services that you plan to offer, why you chose this business, your values, the key milestones you anticipate, when
you began your business, and when you will introduce key products and services. In addition, this section should
outline your expectations about the companys size, key players, and how you will raise money should you need
capital. This piece of your plan may be the part you write last. Naming your business may also be the last
element, as it may become clearer as you delve into the meat of your business plan.
2. Business Description
This next section involves describing your vision. No one can create your vision for you. Perhaps someone can
inspire you, but your vision is personalit is about your passion. What is your vision for your company? Describe
it in vivid detail as though you are telling a story.
From your vision, you can develop your companys mission. The following is an example:
At Daisy Counseling, LLC, our mission is to:
- enhance your physical, emotional, and spiritual health;
- increase your ability to feel alive and well; and
- help you tap into your innate intuition.
Listing your companys objectives is the next step. What do you hope to achieve in the next year, five years, and
10 years? Describe these milestones. The following is an example:
Private referral base will be 20 patients per week, with eight new patients per month by the end of this year.
A corporate wellness division will be established by year five, with accounts growing by 10 per year.

 By year 10, we will have our own building with five other dietitians working for the company and referrals
growing at the rate of 10 new patients per month.
In addition, this section highlights your business structure. You should discuss whether to form a sole
proprietorship, S corporation, or limited liability corporation with your accountant and attorney.
3. Management
How many positions are currently in your organization and how many do you plan to create? Developing an
organizational chart along with job descriptions may be helpful (see table for an example).
4. The Market
The market examines the current economy, political climate, and technological trends, all of which drive the
marketplace. You can choose to let the economy be an obstacle in your business decisions or you can plow
ahead with a positive attitude. In terms of technological trends, how can you position your business to tap into
online sales of any type of product or service?
In addition, analyze demographic trends. Who is your ideal client? What is his or her age, gender, religious
affiliation, and shopping patterns? Where does the person live? What are his or her likes and dislikes? Develop a
good idea of your ideal clients characteristics.
Your niche drives your market. You may think that becoming a one-dimensional practice limits your referrals, but
focusing on one specific area can help increase your business as you position yourself as an expert and focus
your marketing.
5. The Competition
What are your competitions strengths and weaknesses? What are their prices, performance, and reputation?
Who and what is their market share? Why do your customers buy from them? Create a table and do some
research.
6. Products and Services
Describe your products and services in detail and as related to the competition.
7. Action Plan With Timelines
Synthesize completion of product lines/service detail, find a location for your business, hire staff and
subcontractors, and develop policy manuals, contracts, and HIPAA policies and procedures, if applicable.
8. Contingency Plan
Identify trouble areas and devise solutions to potential risks. Focusing on your goal is important, but be flexible
enough to change your course of action if your initial plan does not work the way you had hoped.
9. Marketing Action Plan
Your marketing plan has several components, including the following:
public relations, including business to business and media exposure;
Web site marketing;
advertising, including paid media and Web site ads;
direct sales;
speaking and writing opportunities;
cross-marketing with other healthcare and nonhealthcare professionals; and
networking opportunities.
Consider how you will use these avenues to promote your business.

10. Financials
Are your financials in place? Consider the following:
Income and expense reports (profit/loss).
Cash flow and gross margin: Is your income exceeding your expenses? How must you price your services or
cut your expenses to turn a decent profit and keep cash on hand for expansion or emergencies?
Break even analysis: How long will it take you to break even and then move forward to turn a profit?
Case in Point
Katie Hamm, a senior dietetic student at Kansas State University, and Jennifer Westerkamp, a dietetic intern at
Massachusetts General Hospital, developed their business and marketing plan during a year-long
entrepreneurship class. They own and operate All Access Internships, an information site designed to assist
aspiring dietitians with the dietetic internship search process.
The business and marketing plan provided us with structure and direction but still allowed us the flexibility to be
creative, Hamm and Westerkamp say. We were able to take all of the ideas we had floating around in our heads
and in e-mails to each other and put them in a concrete plan. We had to think about how we were going to
achieve these and decide on the best methods for doing so. Without a business and marketing plan, we wouldnt
even know where to start.
Have No Fear
Dietitians may resist writing a business and marketing plan for a number of reasons, including fear of committing
to an idea, lack of understanding the concept and the need for a business and marketing plan, and lack of
interest in turning ideas into action. But creating a plan is the first key to success. So grab a pen or pull your chair
up to your computer, let go of your fear, and move forward.
Beverly Price, RD, MA, E-RYT, is principal of Jump Start Consulting, LLC, specializing in management and
marketing strategies for RDs, along with seminars and distance learning products for students and continuing
professional education.
Table