If you’re trying to market your business, you may feel like the audience you’re trying to reach should be pretty much anyone, anywhere who might be, at some point, interested in your product or service – or knows someone who might be.
But that wouldn’t be an effective approach. In today’s competitive, crowded marketplace, the messages most likely to be heard are those that speak to a specific group of people about a specific need or problem that you can serve. Cast too wide a net, and it can be difficult to get the message across that you can serve anyone well. Even if your products and services are geared toward a specific industry or niche, it’s important to determine whether you can narrow the focus even further.
One company that has been very successful at focusing on its most profitable market is UK – based Morph Costumes. The Edinburgh company’s flagship product is the Morphsuit, which covers the body from head to toe in Spandex. A Morphsuit may be a plain, solid color, or may have the features of a superhero animal, or most anything you can imagine. Sizes are available for men, women and children. The wearer can see out of the suit, but others can’t see them.
The company sells other types of costumes, but when it realized the Morphsuit was becoming wildly popular, its marketing efforts focused on that niche: customers who are interested in becoming another persona, while maintaining a certain level of anonymity. Morph Costumes focused on product innovation and securing licensing rights for characters such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and storm troopers from Star Wars. The result? Since 2009, Morphsuits has sold more than 2 million costumes around the world and has 1.6 million followers on Facebook.
Market Segmentation
Maybe your company offers more than one type of product or service. If so, you’ll need to develop a value proposition for each customer profile that you want to target. Marketers call this “segmentation.” If your business is new, focus on one segment you believe will provide the greatest return. You’ll do more in-depth research into your prospective customers’ problems, expectations and budgets, and determine how to best meet those needs. As your business grows, you can expand to new market segments. A large corporation may have dozens of market segments.
Does choosing a single type of customer limit your market? No, market segmentation accomplishes the opposite. If you’re trying to produce products or services that appeal to a wide range of prospective customers, you may find you please no one. By honing your message, you better ensure that your target market will hear it, and respond by becoming loyal customers.
Determining your ideal customers in a competitive market can be a challenge, but the process can give your business a competitive advantage. SweetWater Marketing can help. Contact us today at (256) 617-2092 or hi@sweetwaterglobal.com.