Glossary

Target group

A target group comprises all persons that are addressed by a certain marketing activity as the company or supplier regards them as potential purchasers of their brand or product. A target group can consist of both existing as well as potential customers of a company.
Market segmentation is used to find target groups based on respective relevant characteristics.

Types of target groups:

1. Socio-demographic target group (e.g. age, gender, education)
2. Target group based on behavioral characteristics (e.g. intensive user, first-time buyer)
3. Target group based on psychological characteristics (e.g. innovation-savvy, security-oriented)
4. Target group based on media-oriented characteristics (user of certain types of media)

Examples of target groups within the B2B market:

1. Organizational characteristics (company size, location, market share etc.)
2. Financial characteristics (budget/finances, liquidity, assets etc.)
3. Purchasing behavior or patterns of the company (Buying Center, supplier loyalty, purchasing dates etc.)
4. Personal characteristics of the decision makers within the company (information gathering, time pressure, innovation-savvy etc.)