31 Types of Target Market

John Spacey, updated on September 29, 2024

A target market are the customers that a firm plans to reach with marketing efforts. Customers have different needs and respond to different messages. As such, target market has implications for brand identity, product development, design, customer experience, promotion, pricing and distribution. The following are common types of target market.

Affinities – things the customer likes e.g. animals	Age Group
Business Customers	Buying Behavior
Channel Preferences – e.g. prefers to buy online	Concern for Social Issues
Culture	Customer Expectations
Customer Needs	Customer Perceptions
Customer Preferences – e.g. preference for minimalist design	Demographics
Environmental Consciousness	Family Status
Hobbies & Interests	Household Type
Income Level	Language
Lifestyle	Location
Ownership – e.g. homeowners	Parental Status
Personality Traits	Price Sensitivity
Product Usage – e.g. backcountry snowboards	Profession or Occupation
Psychographics – how customers think	Purchase Frequency
Shopping Habits	Social Class
Subculture

Technically speaking, a target market is who you would like to sell to and a target audience is who you would like to reach with a message such as an advertisement.

It is possible and indeed common to have multiple target markets for the same product. For example, a foam shield that is sold as a toy for children and as a prop for cosplayers.

Business customers can also be targeted with factors such as industry, revenue level, number of employees, operational characteristics and so forth. These factors are known as a firmographic.

Summary

A target market is a group of potential customers that you identify for a marketing effort. In some cases, the product is designed with a particular target market in mind. It is also possible to craft any marketing effort for a particular target market. Where an effort is related to communication the more precise term is a target audience.

31 Types of Target Market

In your experience, what factor is most useful for identifying a target market?

Summary

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