Who Is Your Target Market

Consumers, as we all know, love to buy things. They simply love to spend money on products and services that mean something to them, and in many cases that don’t even mean anything to them. But how do you get consumers to buy from your business? Understanding your consumers’ psychology can be largely used to your advantage. Small Business has been using consumer psychology for years on end to sell their products and services. Studying a consumer’s behavioural pattern will help you formulate a great message that has the ability to persuade them to buy from you. This is why it is very important to know a bit about the consumer decision making process, as it can help you devise a great sales plan that your customers’ just won’t be able to resist!

Consumer psychology is basically the study of consumer trends and behaviour and is an invaluable resource for anyone in Small Business. Experts in consumer psychology start categorizing customers by what they buy, how they use these products and services, and when they buy. Mastering the art of analyzing your customers’ behaviour will help your re business succeed by educating you about how your consumers think and the reasons they come up with when deciding on a purchase.

Knowing your Target Market

Like practicing archery with your eyes closed, doing business without knowing anything about your target market will not achieve any of your business goals. Ultimately, every Business wants the same 3 things: increased sales, increased market share and increased brand awareness. But none of this will be possible if you don’t know who your target market is.

By learning who your potential customers are and by finding out what they really need,and what there biggest problem is you can offer them tailored products and services that are guaranteed to solve their problem. This is why it is very important to choose a customer base that is in some way appropriate to your business. Once you are done with the right kind of market research and have conducted surveys, compiled the results and check to see which markets make the most sense to your business. Make sure that the target market that you choose has the following traits:

1. Will have easy access to your services and products, either through visiting your business or by ordering online and over the phone.
2. Will not waver away from your products that are similar to yours.
3. Will pay a price for your services that give you a reasonable profit margin.

Once you have zeroed in on an appropriate target market, it is very important to know and understand what your customers really want. Once you know what your potential customers really want, you can tailor your business to give them just what they want. If you can find out your customers deepest desires, you will be on the fast track to success.

Your first step should be to put yourself in your customers place and ask yourself what you find valuable in the products and services that different businesses offer. What kind of information would you be looking for before you make your buying decision? Once you know the response to all these questions, you will be able to make more sales.

One of the biggest problems that most low performing businesses face is the fact that they don’t know who they really are and who they should be. Every customer wants to deal with a business person who is amiable, reliable, honest, and likeable.The Customers decision to buy is emotional. Working on yourself and improving your character can largely add to your businesses success.

Influence Customer Behaviour

The retail industry relies heavily on the number of visitors who walk into a store and the amount of merchandise that these people buy. The more the customers spend per visit; the more profitable will it be for the retail business in question. Keeping this in mind, retailers across the globe have been juggling between a number of innovative strategies and techniques in order to maximize sales. However, it is one thing to get more people to visit your store, but it is an entirely different thing to get them to buy from you EVERY TIME they visit your store. And this is where consumer behaviour comes into play!

To be successful retailers must understand the influence consumer behaviour has on the purchasing of customers. Understanding your consumer’s behaviour can not only help increase your overall turnover, but can also help you plan a powerful retail strategy.

The first step to planning an effective retail strategy is by understanding the retail customer. For any organization to grow and survive in today’s highly competitive market, it needs to first understand its customers and how to respond to their current and future needs. As far as the retail industry is concerned, understanding the retail customer plays a crucial role in the success of any retail firm. With globalization and technological advancement becoming the norm, a new era of consumerism has emerged where retailers are required to concentrate only on meeting the needs and priorities of the consumer.

Retailers need to know what the various factors are, that influence a customer to purchase – and this does not have to be just at the time of purchasing but can be all the factors that lead up to the time of purchase. This would include a number of internal as well as external influences, like:
In the past, many attempts have been made to study consumer behaviour including motivation research, observation, experimentation, electronic surveillance, interviews and surveys, and sales analysis or consumption research. Other factors that were taken into consideration were group influence, attitudes, motivations, and beliefs.

A great way to understand the nature of your retail market is to analyze a number of factors including population, geography of a particular area and demography. Analyzing the population will help you understand the potential markets. Population of a particular area can be based on a number of parameters like race, ethnicity and immigration and emigration rates. Immigration and emigration rates can help a retailer understand the actual population of a specific area. Race and ethnicity can help the retailer understand the buying patterns and choices of the consumers.

When a customer decides to make a purchase, there will be both psychological as well as socio-cultural influences that take place. Psychological influences include: changes in personality, beliefs, lifestyle and even attitude. Socio-cultural influences include: personal as well as family influences.

Understanding the influences to consumer decision making can turn the looker into a buyer and into a long term buyer.