Identify and Target Your Market
HOW TO IDENTIFY & TARGET YOUR MARKET
Ensuring you identify and target your market is a vital step in the whole process of planning your website. Check on this simple guide on how to get it right.
Make your website for your market; not yourself
1. Your target market is a CRITICAL consideration in designing your website
2. Your target market defines your: BRAND
3. Your BRAND defines your: Domain name Design style Tone of content
4. The Internet is huge.
5. Don’t try and appeal to everyone: You will only dilute your impact.
6. First: Find your niche
7. Why would someone be interested in your website? Identify the benefits that your website provides e.g. Get human-translated, low cost Japanese to English translation while you wait.
8. Who are your competitors targeting? Can you target the same group? Is there another untargeted market?
9. Can you appeal to this market more than your competitors? What makes your product/service stand out? Is it realistic to enter this market?
10. Does this market allow for a reasonable profit? If the market is too small, you will have to keep looking.
11. Second: Focus in on your target market
12. Geographic segmentation Where is your market based?
13. Demographic segmentation What are their basic characteristics? e.g. age, income-level, marital status
14. Psychographic segmentation What are their common emotions, interests and behaviours? e.g. technical, environmentally-conscious, sporty
15. How to research your target market
* Use statistics available from censuses, online questionnaires, commercial databases
* For existing businesses, question current customers
* Use focus groups or direct surveying
* Use online forums used by the target market
16. Third: Create a customer profile
17. Describe an average customer Write a summary of your ideal expected customer This gives your target market a face, making it easier to relate to and plan for
18. Finally: revisit your website goal and include any findings
19. Don’t be overwhelmed. Try and get it right, but remember most websites are refined gradually over time
20. You’ve now seen how to identify and target your market. This is the SECOND STEP in the process of good website design.
21. Need Help? Ask the experts at guiding you through website development.
You can also check the reference here.
