The definition of targeted marketing in its simplest form is marketing a specific product toward a target customer. This could be based on age, location, gender, etc. Targeted marketing has changed the way businesses find customers. In today's business world, a savvy marketer will know that to find the best possible customers depends on well thought out targeted marketing strategies.

By using targeted marketing, the business will tailor their marketing efforts to appeal to a particular group of customers. In order to select the target market, a business needs to segment the overall market into key customer subsets whose members share alike demographic needs. This type of marketing is a low-cost method that targets only that specific niche. The ultimate goal is to corner that area of the market by understanding the needs of those customers.

By choosing a target market segment for their product instead of trying to sell it to the entire market, a business can find a better use of their promotion dollars. A carefully chosen market plan can reach the right customers with the perfect message. This is not only a better use of money and time; it is also a better use of a businesses production resource by concentrating on a single product.

Another benefit to using a targeted marketing plan is that it makes a better use of a company's distribution dollars. This allows the marketers to focus on developing a good working relationship with the sales force. Creating a strong brand identity and targeted marketing plan involves defining and aligning the businesses product or service with their customer's buying needs and habits.

Using targeted marketed can be an extremely valuable tool for small businesses since they can often lack the resources to market to the large markets or to maintain a wide range of products for more than one market. By focusing their resources on a certain type of customer, a small business can carve out their own market niche that it can serve better than its larger competitors.

A few different factors can be used to find the best customers for your product. First off there is the demographic that is being targeted. This involves the age, gender, religion, race, ethnicity, income, occupation, family size, and social class. Next is the Psycho-graphic, which involves the lifestyles, opinions, attitudes, behavior, interests, and perception. Lastly there is the geographic, meaning the zip codes, city, county, state size, climate, urban, terrain, region, rural, suburban, and natural resources.