The broader group of customers a business chooses to serve with its products, services, and marketing.
A strategic market choice that may include several distinct audience segments or buyer personas.
Short and sweet:
The broader group of customers a business chooses to serve with its products, services, and marketing.
A strategic market choice that may include several distinct audience segments or buyer personas.
See also: Target Audience, Market Segmentation, Marketing Strategy
A target market is the specific group of people a business focuses its products and marketing efforts on, defined by shared characteristics like demographics, needs, or purchasing behavior rather than an attempt to appeal to everyone. Narrowing focus this way lets a business tailor messaging and product decisions more precisely, since language and features that resonate with one group often fall flat with another. Even large companies with broad appeal typically break their audience into multiple defined target markets rather than treating their entire customer base as one uniform group.
Lululemon’s target market is athletic, wellness-focused consumers willing to pay premium prices for performance apparel, a group its stores and product design cater to exclusively.
A budget airline like Spirit builds its whole business around price-sensitive travelers who care more about the lowest possible fare than legroom or amenities.
Peloton originally aimed at affluent, time-strapped professionals who wanted a gym-quality workout without leaving home, only later broadening its focus as the brand matured.
