What Is a Target Market? The Group You Choose to Serve

In plain English

It is a choice, and choices exclude. A target market that includes everyone who might conceivably buy is not a target market; it is a description of the population.

Narrowing feels like giving up revenue and usually produces more of it. A specific market lets you speak precisely, price properly and be the obvious choice rather than one of many adequate ones.

What to know

A deliberate choice

Selected, not inherited from whoever happened to enquire.

Defined by need

The problem and situation matter more than demographics.

Reachable

A market you cannot reach affordably is not a market you can serve.

Sized honestly

Big enough to sustain the business, small enough to own.

Why it matters

Most positioning problems are market definition problems. A business serving everybody cannot make a specific promise, and a promise that is not specific does not persuade anyone.

Common mistakes

×Defining the market as everyone who could possibly buy.

×Choosing by demographic when the real distinction is situational.

×Never revisiting the definition as the business changes.

×Picking a market you cannot reach within budget.

FAQs

Is target market the same as target audience?

Market is the group you serve. Audience is who you are speaking to in a given piece of communication.

How narrow is too narrow?

When the market cannot sustain your revenue target. Most businesses are nowhere near that point.

WRITTEN BY TARIQ SALLAM

Marketing Consultant. Entrepreneur. Content Creator.

I'm a marketing consultant, entrepreneur and content creator. I help businesses grow through practical marketing, websites, SEO, content and AI.

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