Nailing Down Your Target Market

One of my biggest pet peeves is when you ask a client who they want to market themselves to and they say, “Well… everyone”.

WHAT! NO.

Creating a target market is SO VERY IMPORTANT so you can get the most out of your marketing and cater everything you do to that certain demographic.

You wouldn’t target a 75-year old male to purchase beauty products (I mean I guess there are exceptions to every rule but come on), so you can’t say you are selling your product to “everyone”.

The first thing I always do, besides asking the client the question, is come up with some personas.

Personas are made up people who are interested in your project. You should list their age, marriage status, goals, pain points, education, and anything else that could help you later target them.

I created these two types of personas to narrow down who I was looking for when building a portfolio website

These personas were created to expand the target market to a broader audience, adding different ages to the demographic.

After you’ve created your personas, you need to find some people in those categories and do some research. Ask questions like, “Would you be interested in a website that _(insert what website provides)_?” or “If you were looking to buy ____ where would you look first?” This part can be as simple as sending out a survey on facebook, or testing your market by running a small ad.

After that is done you can compile your information to discover your weaknesses and strengths.

Once you have a good understanding who you are selling your product to, you can then come up with a marketing plan and get selling!

Chelsa (MacKay) Anderton is a student in the Digital Media program at Utah Valley University, Orem, Utah, studying Interaction & Design. The previous article relates to Designing Personas in the DGM 270R and is a representation of the skills learned.