Identify Your Target Markets with These 5 Resources

April 12, 2016
5:33 pm

Posted by DMA Solutions Team

The number one rule of real estate and, arguably, of marketing, too, is LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION! Geo-targeting your marketing efforts is important as it can result in an even greater return on your investment – something that all fresh produce marketers can get behind. Identifying your top and/or emerging markets and then strategically concentrating your marketing spend accordingly will enable you to more closely monitor your efforts/results and position you for a measurable marketing WIN.

Did you know that you most likely already have access to several resources that can help you to knowledgeably identify marketing targets based on location? We’ve identified and shared below several accessible resources to determine potential target markets, so dig in and begin to define the “where” in your marketing formula.

Website Analytics

In addition to online behaviors, most analytics programs provide geo-data about your website visitors based on the location of their individual IP addresses. While this breakdown may not jive with your current distribution/sales, it is certainly an indicator of brand and/or product interest and may highlight potential opportunities.

Social Media Insights

Several of the main social media platforms provide geographic info about your social followers/communities. As with your website analytics, you probably won’t make any hefty business decisions based on these insights; however, knowing where these shoppers/customers are concentrated can help boost promotion performance and may sweeten the pot for your retail partners, as well.

Database Composition

An even more qualified sample of geo-data is at your fingertips… if you’ve collected address information from the shoppers/customers in your contact database. Run a report and sort by the geo-level of your choosing – country, state, city or postal code – to determine location-based opportunities.

Distribution/Customers

You know the region(s) that your customers occupy and, therefore, the coinciding distribution of your products. Where is the highest concentration? Are there emerging markets that you’d like to penetrate?

Sales Data

If you have the budget for it, we highly recommend investing in shopper/sales data to invaluably enhance and inform your target market identification and overall marketing strategy. Also refer to resources available to you via associations and other industry affiliations.

Compile a list from each of the resources above (or as many as you have access to) to elevate geo-trends. This new list of target markets will prepare you to strategically communicate with existing and potential new customers/consumers – to grow your business even more in existing top markets and to expand your business into new ones.

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