TARGETING YOUR MESSAGES Let’s talk for a moment about some of the conventional ways of advertising your business. These would include TV, radio, newspaper, magazine, yellow pages, and the internet. Even though these may all seem pretty traditional, there are some significant differences in these various types of advertising. For example with TV, radio, newspaper and magazine, you’re pushing your message out to potential prospects. With classified, yellow pages and the internet, your would-be customers are actively looking for you. That’s why it’s actually smart of use a variety of media to get your message out. So you obviously need to know the habits of the customers you want to attract and basically get in their way. Market specialization is a business term meaning the market segment to which a particular good or service is marketed. It's usually defined by demographics such as age, gender, geography, etc.  A product focusing on a specific target market contrasts sharply with one following the marketing strategy of mass marketing. The process of market segmentation includes     •Determining the characters of the target market     •Separating these segments based on these characteristics     •Determining if the market segments are large enough to support your product or service     •Develop a marketing strategy aimed at this narrow slice of the demographic Targeted marketing enables you to get to appropriate prospective customers more efficiently than any other marketing strategy. Here's some of the benefits of targeted marketing. Cost savings By catering to a specific demographic segment, you can focus on marketing to a smaller niche audience. For example, if you're trying to appeal to folks in a particular geographic area, you can run a lower cost newspaper ad that's targeted to a particular part of town. If you're a Realtor wanting to get listings from a certain area, you might run a direct mail campaign targeted to a particular zip code. Focus By knowing exactly who your target market is, you can develop messages that will specifically appeal to that group. If you're selling clothes to teenagers, you can take advantage of language, customs and habits that would draw in that particular segment. Your customers will appreciate your relevance to their situations because you'll be speaking to them in a more direct way. Specialized knowledge Establishing an intimate understanding about the needs of your target market is critical. How will your customer profit or otherwise gain from using your products or services? Your promotional material is highly relevant to their needs, and is less likely to be junked Differentiation By differentiating yourself from your competitors, prospective customers are less likely to focus on price as the key issue, thus enhancing your profit margins.