The Target Market

The marketing strategies of determining product, price, placement, and promotion are not planned in isolation. Marketing analysts often look at a combination of these four factors. This combination of the four P’s is known as the marketing mix. The elements of the marketing mix focus on the consumer. In order to develop a successful marketing mix, researchers first ask two important questions:

• Who is going to buy the product?
• What is the potential to sell this product?

The group of customers or consumers who will probably buy the produt is known as the target market. The company directs its marketing efforts toward this group of potential customers who form the target market. Once market researchers have determined the target market they wish to appeal to, the company can develop an appropriate mix of product, price, place ment, and promotion. The company atempts to match consumer needs or mold consumer desires to the product being offered. For example, 1f the target market is middle-class teenagers, the marketing mix might consist of the following:

Product : blue jeans

Price : with the market

Placement : department store

Promotion : advertisements on a “pop music” radio station

A successful marketing mix depends on the knowledge about consumers and their buying habits, gained through market research as well as correct identification of the target market. Strategies of product, price, placement, and promotion are blended in order to reach a chosen group of consumers.