My father happens to be a New York Angel, so I have read a lot of business plans (all confidential) that have gotten companies funded. As of late, more and more of them are becoming increasingly general in terms of their “target” market and who will use their product/service. To give the benefit of the doubt, the majority of them are tech start-ups that are just looking for mass adoption – a shot in the dark that even Robin Hood has a hard time doing. I think that this is a symptom of the digital revolution and the maelstrom of web 2.0 social media.

With the advent of social media, a lot of marketing plans (I’m guilty of it as well) revolve around the notion that if you create a blog, you tweet or Facebook then you’re all set. FALSE.  Creating a marketing plan revolves around your strategic marketing initiatives and the way you will execute them, that are set up to fulfill a goal or milestone you have set in place.

To gain some focus, here are a few things you should remember when defining your target market and reaching them:

1. Define your target market with as much detail as possible. It is great that you have a social media plan that covers a broad range of markets but you need to pick one that you can focus on. This will help you with the wording of your content to make it pertain to a certain demographic.
2. Back up your target market decision with reasons why you chose them over another market. You obviously chose your market because they are the consumers interested in your product/service and will pay for it. You’re convinced of this, but you need solid evidence and proof to back up your decision as to why you choose them.
3. Create a plan to deliver value and information – Online that is all you are known by. This sounds easy but each market is only receptive to certain kinds of marketing initiatives and wording. If you are targeting Gen-Y, you generally want something short, quick, simple and to the point opposed to the older demographics that generally put a little more thought into it. The wording though is the most important because it needs to factual and sell the product but it also can’t offend anyone and discourage them.
4. Join social networks or communities that your target market is in. It’s hard to believe but there are actually other social networks out there beyond Twitter and Facebook that you need to find. There is a blog, network, community or forum out there that your market participates in that you need to be active on. Find them!
5. Execute step 3 in a timely and ordered fashion. This is one of the hardest things to do because you have so much information that you want to deliver but you need to be patient. Social media and marketing initiatives take time to settle in and deliver results for the most part. If you put out to much information, it can look like spam but if you don’t put out enough then you don’t seem active and no one will notice you. Delivering value is a delicate balancing act that you need to master quickly.
6. Analyze the results and plan accordingly. This is critical to the success of your campaign and it’s effectiveness to your target market. While social media doesn’t have a set formula to determine ROI, use the information and data you have to figure out your reach and influence. For all of initiatives, you can do the same thing.
7. Change your target market if necessary. No one is perfect and can predict the future. Either you chose wrong based on research you had or your product/service changed since you started and pertains to another market – it happens often! You now have more information and experience than before and can make a better decision.

With my first company, we initially started out targeting college students and Gen-Y (all 18-32ish) as we felt they could use our service the most. After a year of tedious work trying to get them to use our service, we realized that it was an uphill battle with little to no returns. We actually changed our target market in order to realign our focus on a market that could really benefit from our services with a realistic chance of acquiring them as a customer.

The lesson is that on paper, one market looks very appealing but once you start to interact with them, you understand their true intentions, wants and needs. Sometimes the spray and pray method works but it is always better to start small then think big.

Tags: business, focus, marketing plan, social media, target market