Listen to part of a lecture in a business class.
People who are likely to buy a company's product are called target customers and these target customers influence a company's marketing strategy. In order to develop a marketing strategy, a company would look at certain characteristics of target customers to decide when and where to advertise, so that they'll reach the target customers most effectively. I'd like to talk to you today about two characteristics of target customers that can influence marketing strategy, specifically age and geographic location of target customers.Say a company makes toy cars, who are its target customers? Kids, right? So if a company wants to make sure its television advertising reaches its target customers, it'd want to advertise during times when kids are actually watching television, like during children's television shows. That way it can make sure that kids see the advertisements and that way the company will get people in that age group to go buy toy cars or to ask their parents to buy them, at least. Now, another important characteristic to consider is geographic location, places where the company’s target customers live. Think about a company that makes boats. Its target customers are people who own homes near oceans or lakes, places where they can use boats, after all, people who don’t live near water don’t have much use for boats. So by placing advertisement on signs along the road or on television in cities and towns that are near oceans or lakes, the company would be more likely to reach the target customers for its boats and sell more of them as a result.
Using points and examples from the lecture, explain how the characteristics of target customers influence marketing strategy for products.
There're two major characteristics of target customers that influence marketing strategy for products. The first one is age. For example, a toy car company tends to put their advertisements during children's TV show so that they're more likely to be viewed by children and their parents, which are the target customers for the company. If the children see the commercial, they'll probably ask their parents to buy the toy for them. Another is geographical location, that's where the target customers live. A boat company will not release ads in cities and towns that are far away from waters, but rather in places near seas or lakes, because people in those places have the need for a boat and the company will be able to maximize its sales. (133 words)
