Identifying and Getting To Know Your Market Segment

Identifying the characteristics of your market segment is an initial step in reaching a target population. Again, you must know the segment very, very well. The most relevant characteristics of the target group are considered to be:


  age ethnic background geographic location
  sex income levels transportation habits
  race reading level points of contact with the public system

Targeting:

When these characteristics are identified, a further analysis of the data may reveal a key audience among the target group; that is, you can begin to speculate which group is difficult-to-reach. In your area, you may discover, for instance, that white men, aged 18 to 25, who are high school dropouts, are underrepresented in your program. Or, that young non-English speaking women, aged 35 to 45, are the difficult-to-reach group within the target audience in your area.

It's important to remember that you are identifying an invisible population; that is, you are trying to reach underserved adults who have probably not been identified through existing private and public literacy efforts.

Therefore, your area may have potential clients who have not been identified in any other region. The importance of knowing your area and its needs cannot be more highly underscored or stressed.

Furthermore, you may find that your key audience uses public transportation, when it is available, and may have contact outside their homes at the following places:



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