Small Business Marketing Kit For Dummies, 3rd Edition

Determining Which Customers Buy What

Marketing is a matter of resource allocation. No budget — not even those of mega-brands like General Motors or McDonald’s — is big enough to do it all. At some point, every marketer has to decide to aim its dollars toward the markets and products that have the best chance of delivering results and providing a good return on the marketing investment.

Viewing your sales by market segment

The best marketers aim promotions precisely at target audiences they believe have the interest and ability to purchase the featured product. Take these steps as you match segments of your market with the categories of your product line they’re most likely to want to purchase:

1. Break down your sales by product categories to gain a clear picture of the types of products you sell, the sales volume each category produces, and the type of customer each attracts.

2. Use your findings to determine which product categories offer the best potential growth opportunities and also to clarify which segments of your clientele are most likely to respond to marketing messages.

3. Weight your marketing expenditures and develop your marketing messages and media plans to achieve your targeted sales goals through promotions that appeal to clearly defined customer segments.

A furniture ...