In order to create an effective marketing strategy for your ecommerce business, one of the first things that any marketer should do is to identify and determine their target markets. Doing so will help businesses determine their marketing objectives as well as design their efforts that would best suit the characteristics, personalities, and behavior of their target demographic.
However, identifying the market for online retail is not as simple as one might think. Since the online world is highly diverse, it can be difficult to identify specifically which group has the most potential to benefit your business. To help you with this crucial marketing step, here is a quick overview and a simple guide on how to identify a target market for your ecommerce marketing campaign.
Different Types of Target Markets
A target market refers to a group of people or organization determined to have a high potential to turn into customers. Marketers segment these people into groups depending on their purchasing behavior and budget. Once a target market is identified, the marketing team would align their efforts in order to promote and offer their digital goods, products, and services effectively.
Aside from sales, an ecommerce business can also target a specific group in order to expand to new markets, bring in new clients, as well as increase market share. The challenge for the marketing team is to design a marketing strategy that the target market is likely to consume in order to achieve the objective of boosting sales, promoting the brand, or expanding markets.
But how can an ecommerce business identify its target market? Generally, target markets are classified into three main categories:
Geographic
Source: Unsplash
One of the ways a business can categorize its target market is based on geographic location. The focus of this category lies on the potential product or service needs of residents from a specific area or region.
For example, an ecommerce business specializing in home heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems can look into regions that require their specific products or services. Let’s say that people in states that experience extremely cold winters have a higher potential to avail of home heating systems. At the same time, people in regions with long hot summers would want to enjoy a reliable home cooling and air conditioning unit. An ecommerce store could use geographic segmentation for its marketing campaign based on neighborhood, postal or ZIP code, area code, city, province, state, region, or even country.
Demographic
The demographic category for target markets is widely considered to be one of the most important. It provides a wide range of details and information that allow marketers to specifically target a market based on measurable statistics. Some of the basis of demographic segmentation include the population’s age, gender, race, level of education, income range, marital status, and even religion. Through this classification, online businesses can accurately target a significantly larger group across the world.
An example of this could be an online store selling cigarettes and vape products. In terms of age, the target market should be those above the legal of 18 years old. Now in terms of gender, marketing teams can rely on the latest statistics on whether males or females are more likely to purchase a box of cigarettes or prefer an e-cigarette instead.
Psychographic
Source: Pexels
The psychographic type of target market focuses on understanding and analyzing people’s lifestyles, beliefs, preferences, and socioeconomic backgrounds. This is particularly important when an online store or business is planning to introduce or promote a new product or service.
This category classifies people based primarily on their social status which corresponds to perceived lifestyle preferences. For example, those in the upper class would typically enjoy a glamorous lifestyle and prefer luxury brands, designer clothing, and the like. On the other hand, those in the lower middle class or working class would focus on functionality when it comes to purchasing preferences.
An ecommerce website can use the psychographic category when creating marketing tactics for a new product. When promoting to the upper class, the emphasis should be on exclusivity. On the other hand, when marketing to the lower and middle class, the campaign should highlight the product’s use, features, and the like.
Tips On How To Identify Your Business’s Target Market
Identifying the different types of target markets can help online businesses to create an effective marketing strategy. However, how can a business better identify its online store’s market?
Use data from Google Analytics
One of the easiest and most effective ways to understand your customer demographics is to use software such as Google Analytics. Reports can easily show important customer details such as age, gender, and location. From this, you can visualize the specific market groups that show high interest in your product, service, or niche.
Take a closer look at your social media engagements
Source: Unsplash
Most digital marketing teams use social media as part of their overall marketing strategy. Users from different social media platforms are diverse which provides an effective and efficient way to reach a large audience. Taking a closer look at your social media engagements can help paint a picture of what your followers are looking for or interested in. Let’s say you posted a promotional video about your newest makeup collection and received positive engagements. From this, you can further find out which gender, age group, etc., shows the most interest and excitement to determine your target market.
Examine your website’s performance
Your website’s performance can also provide crucial information on what people are looking for. One way to do this is by monitoring the performance of your website’s content marketing campaign. Your best and worst-selling content can provide you with an idea of what your market is specifically interested in. Optimizing your content based on your best-performing articles can be an effective way to expand your reach and generate more leads.
Bottomline
Marketing is one of the most important aspects of starting a business effectively. In order to reach audiences and gain revenue through online sale, your marketing efforts should target those with high potential to purchase your product or service. Include a variety of marketing tactics such as social media marketing, email marketing, search engine optimization, and content marketing in your business plan. Then, make sure that you are advertising directly to your target market to get the best possible conversion rates.
Want to know more about different digital marketing strategies? Sidekicks is an on-demand virtual company and we’re eager to help visionaries and entrepreneurs like you. Get a free ebook and learn more about how we can help you by signing up for our newsletter. We also offer a free 30-minute consultation if you prefer something more personal.
