Identifying Target Customers

by Alexander Chernev

The cornerstone of developing a viable marketing strategy is deciding which customers to target and how to reach these customers in an effective and cost-efficient manner. Failure to identify the right target customers is one of the most common and at the same time most dangerous marketing mistakes. Indeed, it is virtually impossible to develop a meaningful value proposition without clearly identifying customers whose needs the company aims to fulfill with its offering. The concept of targeting and the process of identifying the right target customers are the focus of this note. The discussion of the key targeting concepts is complemented by an in-depth overview of three targeting occasion-based versus user-based targeting, data-driven targeting, and the long tail phenomenon. This note is an excerpt (Chapter 6) from Strategic Marketing Theory and Practice by Alexander Chernev (Cerebellum Press, 2019).

63 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 25, 2019