How You Benefit From Targeted Marketing

Targeted marketing entails getting the story regarding your product or service to individuals who require your product or service.  Targeted marketing is always more efficient, effective and therefore less costly than sending an untold number of brochures and catalogs to a hit and miss list of people.

Assume you could peep into someone's mind to comprehend what thoughts and feelings are echoing around inside.  Once you realize what they are thinking, what their concerns and wants are, do you suppose you could locate a product or service that could make life easier for them?

You bet you could.

And, that is what marketing to a targeted group is all about.

Now, you cannot actually add electrodes to someone's skull and observe the thoughts and emotions rumbling around within someone's brain.  But, you can do something almost as good.  And, that is to define the thoughts, feelings, and needs of a particular group of people who should use your product or service.

Whatever product you recommend or provide, it has various features and provides a number of benefits.  The features describe the product or service. They are the specifications that would allow an individual who is not familiar with the product or service to design and produce the product.

The benefits, on the other hand, describe why the product was made in the first place. They indicate why the product is important.  Benefits save precious time.  Benefits eliminate worry and discomfort.  Benefits relieve anxiety.  Benefits lower fear and provide relief to those in distress.

Moreover, benefits are why people buy a product or service.

So, to do targeted marketing, you must first grasp the benefits of your product or service.

The fastest way to identify benefits is to write down what your product does.  What functions does it perform? What characteristics of your product or service differ from rival products and services?

Once you've identified the characteristics of your product or service, ask one plain question: "So what?"  This is what your prospects will ask.

Responses to your "So what?" question will be the benefits. And, you may find several benefits for each function your product provides.  That could be quite a list.

After that, pin down a sector of the public that has particular problems that your benefits would solve, help eliminate, or lessen in severity.  This group will be your target market.

Now you can write your ad copy for this segment. Use the chief benefits to this group as your headlines.  After each benefit headline you can expound a bit on how your product or service will make your target audience feel after they use your product.

A tight marketing effort to your targeted market helps you in various ways.  First, and foremost is that you can concentrate your advertising promotion on a smaller number of prospects. And, this target audience will be significantly more likely to purchase your product.  And, that means less advertising expense and greater profits.

Not only that, but by straightforwardly addressing the needs of your target audience you become a professional in your prospect's discipline.  You will stand out in front of ofter marketers who can only churn out general statements.  This increases your value as a perceived authority and makes your prospects more prone to buy from you.

In short, targeted marketing produces better results than generic marketing. Targeted marketing increases sales, lowers advertising costs, and elevates your perceived authority and "brand" in your target market. Moreover, all this means bigger profits for you.