Find your target market as an interior designer
What is your target market?
Can you answer this question clearly and easily? And do you feel aligned with the answer?
If you can’t, then keep reading! We’re so excited to take you through this process because we are strong believers that having a clear target market is going to be a game-changer for the future of your business.
It will impact the way you will create new offers, promote them, connect with your audience, and sign new clients! But not any kind of clients… your dream clients!
Whether you have been in business for a while or just getting started, stop trying to please everyone on the market, and let’s find your unique target market!
But first… what is really a target market?
You’ve probably heard this business and marketing term before, but what does it reallyyyyyy mean?
Your target market is your niche. It’s a group of potential customers. It’s the market you want to sell your offers (products or services) to. It’s whom you talk to when you promote your business and it’s whom you wish to sign contracts with!
Why is it that important to have a defined target market?
As we mentioned before, being clear and specific for your target market is an important key to success. Without that clarity, all your efforts will feel like a shot in the dark. Your marketing feels unsafe, unstable, and not really enjoyable, and it probably won’t convert as much as it actually could!
By defining clearly your target market you will:
Differentiate yourself from competitions
Create a deeper connection with your audience
Build offers that are more aligned to you and to the needs and desires of your customers
Be more strategic when promoting your offers
Use the appropriate tone and references that will help feel closer to your customers
Be more efficient with your marketing and use the right marketing tools and platforms that your audience uses, too
Be more intentional with your time and energy and only accept business opportunities that feel good and help you grow
Know ahead of time if a client will be good for you and avoid getting into business with clients that won’t be a good fit
Attract your dream clients and have more fun working with them
Ok so having a target market is key, got it! But what’s next?
How to define your target market?
1. Get to know yourself and your business
The more aligned you will be with your business and your offers the easier it will be to promote them and the more genuine it will feel to you and your customers.
The first step is to understand who you are as a business, what does your business represents, and what makes you feel excited about it!
Don’t change who you are to please a certain target market. A common mistake is to choose an audience for the wrong reasons. You might think that’s where the money is at or that it will have good business opportunities or even that the rest of the market is already too saturated with offers. But by doing that, you’ll end up with customers you don’t enjoy working with, you’ll feel limited in your creativity and you’ll be building a business that doesn’t feel aligned to you anymore.
With the right target market, you won’t feel like you have to pretend to be someone you are not.
2. Expertise vs Target Market
Both your expertise and target market are important but don’t confuse the two.
Your target market focuses on your customers, on the people you will be marketing and promoting to, and to whom you will be delivering your services.
Your expertise is what you have decided to focus on, what you are really good at.
Let’s say you really love to and you are really good at (maybe even known for) designing gorgeous homes that are also eco-friendly and energy-efficient. You specialized and became an expert in green energy. That’s awesome and you should definitely be talking about it!
But the way you will talk about your expertise will be very different if your target market is made of first-time homeowners instead of retired couples. They will have different needs and desires and they definitely won’t be expecting the same kind of marketing. It is crucial for you to understand who your target market is so you can share your expertise with an impacting messaging.
3. Learn to say no
It’s normal to want to say yes to every project that comes your way, especially when you first start. But learning to say no when these projects aren’t aligned with the vision of your business is going to be key.
And yes! Having a clear target market will help you stay focus on the projects you want to keep working on. You’ll see, once you’ve started working with your dream clients, you won’t want to do anything else anyway!
4. Understand why you want to work with these people
Once you have your ideal target audience in mind, get clear on why you want to focus on them. What is the emotional link you have with your audience? Why did you pick them?
The stronger that link will be, the easier you will connect with them.
5. Create a community
Your target market refers to a specific group of customers that share similar characteristics. It’s not just about knowing if they will be residential or commercial clients. Be as specific as you can and add characteristics that will make that community unique.
Define their ideal:
Location
Gender
Age group
Job situation
Income range
Hobbies
Values
Living situation
Family composition
Common fears
Wildest dreams
Biggest desires
...
At the end of the exercise, you should be able to describe and picture your ideal customers. Then imagine them in a room hanging out. Would they have things to talk about? What would that be?
To learn more about how to define and attract your dream client, click here.
Getting clear on your target market will help your business to have a strong foundation. Take the time to identify who your ideal clients are and see how your marketing strategy will shift, grow, convert!
Having an external point of view to help you in this process can be highly beneficial! We’re experts in marketing and public relations for interior designers and we’d love to help!
Click here to schedule a Complimentary Brand Consultation.
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