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Targeting Markets

The first few sections of the Principles of Marketing Tutorials have introduced the basic concepts needed as a foundation for building a strong marketing program. In particular, it has emphasized the importance of understanding customers since they are the reason an organization is in business. With customer knowledge in hand, it is now time to turn our attention to the process of addressing customers’ needs through actions undertaken by the marketer.

As we discussed in the What is Marketing? Tutorial these decisions include:

1. Selecting Target Markets
2. Developing Products/Services
3. Creating Promotions
4. Arranging Distribution
5. Setting Price
6. Adding Support Services

In this tutorial we examine decision #1 - how marketers determine which groups of customers to target. This is a critical point in marketing planning since all additional marketing decisions are going to be directed toward satisfying the markets selected.

For those new to marketing, selecting target markets may seem like a relatively easy decision to make. In fact, many inexperienced marketers will simply conclude that “We will just sell to whoever wants to buy.” However, this mind-set is both ineffective and inefficient as the marketer is likely to drain resources in their quest to locate those willing to buy. Using a target market approach an organization attempts to get the most from its resource by following a planned procedure for identify customers that appear to be the best candidates to respond to the marketer’s message.

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