It cracks me up that there are two main disciplines that require one-way mirrors: market research and police interrogation (although I imagine that market research is the only one that stocks bowls of M&Ms on the dark side of the glass).
Identifying a target market for a brand is one of the trickiest but most essential aspects of marketing. Yet it can feel like a police dragnet. Too often, marketers define target markets as everyone who could conceivably buy a particularly product: “women, aged 18-49”.
Sometimes marketers are guided by a strategic need for a brand to appeal to a particular demographic group: “we need a product for Boomers” or “we need to appeal to Millennials”, as if these groups were uniform and there was a one-size-fits-all way to attract them. Too many target market statements lack a unique and compelling insight.
Target markets are not a catch-all. The best target markets are deliberately exclusive. Investing the time to crack a target market statement can unlock everything for a brand.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on brands that clearly get their target market.
(Marketoonist Monday: I’m giving away a signed print of this week’s cartoon. Just share an insightful comment to this week’s post. I’ll pick one comment at 5:00 PST on Monday. Thanks!)