Target Marketing for Small Businesses

We are living in an ever-changing society that is highly segmented and complex. Fortunately, today advanced tools available to the owner/manager of the smaller businesses to exploit market opportunities and to strengthen themselves with the help of target marketing.

The owner or manager of the small business should be very careful and precise about the selection of the target market. Once that has been done, the profile of these target customers must be defined realistically. By realistically I mean that instead of assuming things based on your own perception, the real-life characteristics of the market should be considered objectively. With the profile, you will need to aggregate the location(s) of these potential customers as well. Finally you must employ the most cost-effective avenue(s) to connect with these targeted markets.

The first step is to have a database for the target market. The database for the target market is simply a complete and functional list of our present and potentially interested customers. Large companies have capitalized on this tool and have definitely benefited from it. Small businesses, however, may fail to use the facility of these present and potentially interested customer lists due to inattentiveness or stereotyping. Today database management is no big deal for even the smallest of businesses because of the availability of reasonably priced Personal Computers. Customer lists can be categorized and indexed in a variety of ways, e.g., by size, by geographic location, by specific product interests/needs, by pricing preferences, and/or even by credit status. What then is required is astute management to use the data as effectively as possible.

To collect the data for your database, various techniques can be used. Customer surveys offer valuable information. These surveys demonstrate your interest in your customers and your presumed commitment to better serve them. It is firstly a positive way of communicating with our present, past, and potentially interested customers. Secondly these surveys provide first-hand information about the preferences, expectations, likes and dislikes of the target customers. Hence the survey data can be used to enhance your customer database while working as an important source publicity as well. The database can also be integrated with point-of-sale (POS) records to provide real-time customer profiles. This will help you to recognize customers' purchasing patterns.

Once information about the target market is known, you can design special offerings and promotions for them as you'll be aware of what they are seeking and how their pattern of demand is evolving. The challenge is to use the ways that will be most cost-effective. Direct mail, telemarketing, email, your own Web site as well as online advertising are increasingly effective ways of reaching certain very specific markets. Targeted advertising via community newspapers and cable television is often quite cost effective. Neighborhood outdoor advertising (billboards), product sample drop-offs, and/or redeemable coupon distribution can be sharply-focused communications.

Whatever you do remember that profits in the long run can be achieved only through customer satisfaction.

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