As depicted in the following chart (survey data administered by CSO Insights), Target Marketing programs generated the highest return on investments in 2006. This is why online target marketing has become is an effective tool for marketers. When considering any kind of online marketing, you first must understand its purpose and functions. Ask yourself some questions to help pinpoint your direction, "Who are your customers? Who will purchase my product?" Identifying and serving a particular target market will aid in building a better business.












Target marketing is the process of breaking down groups into individual markets for the purpose of concentrating advertising dollars upon a selected group. Groups can be broken down based upon different select criteria such as age, race, socio-economic status, etc.

The following is a sample list of some possible market groups:

Types of Market Group(Sementations) (1)
Demographic group: based upon age, income, gender, education, ethnicity

1. Psychographic Group: based upon activities, interests, opinions, personality, values
2. Geographic Group: physical location such as country, state, address
3. Behavior group: based upon benefits sought, usage level, online engagement
   

The United States boasts the largest internet usage in the world, with 186 million users (64% of the population). China follows the US in a close second with 95.6 million users, and Japan with 77.9 million internet users. In contrast, South Korea boasts the highest proportion of internet usage among its population. (2) These statistics show good reason why market research is necessary. For marketers whose products are relevant to all internet users, marketing efforts would have the most impact if directed at specific geographic locations with the highest internet usage.

Once you have identified the type of target market group, it is important to evaluate the attractiveness of this group based upon specific aspects such as the groups' size, growth rate, expected margin of profit within the group, competition, brand loyalty, etc. One tool that can be effective in evaluating these kinds of aspects is a survey. The video below, "Using Effective Sample Surveys on your Target Market", explains how a survey can be utilized to aid in the evaluation.



The marketing campaign can better determine which strategy to choose based upon the results of evaluating these aspects. Once a thorough evaluation and analysis is completed, there are several different target market strategies that can be utilized. For the purpose of this blog, I will list and describe only three:

• Full market coverage: marketing campaign is directed toward every group in the market.
  
• product specialization: marketing campaign directing a specific product toward a specific group.
  
• single-segment strategy: the marketing campaign is directed at one market group

Some Target Marketing Techniques

Article Marketing - Article marketing is one of the most effective online marketing methods available. The article is composed and submitted to both paid and free article directories and article banks. Depending on the popularity of the directory, this technique can have a major impact.

Blogging - The word blog is the short word for weblog. It is similar to a journal and can have provide an increase to your webpage traffic, page ranking and overall popularity of your site.
There are a number of free blog websites such as:

*blogger.com
*wordpress.com and
*livejournal.com

Ezine Publishing - An Ezine is an electronic newsletter or magazine sent out via email. For exampble: online press releases. An ezine should contain helpful information and resources that help the marketer to develop a long-term relationship with your readers.

Online Networking - Online networking is the use of social networks to connect with groups and share information about a company. It is a great way to drive traffic to any website. Not to mention, a wonderful way to receive leads. Here are some examples of social network sites: MySpace.com, Facebook, Youtube, Twitter etc.

Podcasting - Podcasting is the use of digital media files to disseminate your message across the internet. Instead of written words, a voice recording is distributed throughout the internet via syndication feeds. The target marketer has the liberty to use his/her imagination to compose these recordings and create new ways to spread the word.

Here are some articles on additional target marketing strategy techniques:

http://www.websitemarketingplan.com/techniques/Target-AudienceSegment.htm
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http://www.websitemarketingplan.com/small_business/USP.htm

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1. Strauss, Judy and Frost, Raymond E-Marketing. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education,
2009
2. Strauss, Judy and Frost, Raymond E-Marketing. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education,
2009