What is a target market?

The specific group of customers a business chooses to serve and aim its products and marketing at — defined by shared needs, characteristics, or value — so effort concentrates where it's most likely to work.

How do you define a target market?

Segment the broad market, then choose the group most likely to want, afford, and value your product — described concretely by demographics, needs, behavior, and value, often as buyer personas or, in B2B, an ideal customer profile (ICP).

Why not target everyone?

Because a product and message sharp enough to win a specific group is necessarily less generic. Targeting everyone forces weak, generic marketing that resonates with no one; focus gets traction and is often the beachhead for later expansion.

Growth Marketing Glossary

Target Market

tar·get mar·ketnoun

The specific group you're actually for — chosen deliberately so your product, message, and spend concentrate where they'll work, instead of being spread thin across everyone.

Schematic — the chosen group a business aims to serve

Term: Target market
Is: The defined customer group a business aims at
Defined by: Shared needs, demographics, behavior, value
Read with: Segmentation, ICP, positioning, persona

Parts of speech & senses

target market · noun

The specific group of customers a business chooses to serve and direct its products and marketing toward, defined by shared characteristics, needs, or value. "The brand's target market is busy urban parents."

What a target market is

A target market is the defined group of people a business decides to serve — chosen deliberately from the whole population because they share needs, characteristics, or value that make them the best fit for what the company offers. Choosing a target market is one of the most consequential decisions in marketing, because it determines who the product is built for, how it's positioned, what message resonates, and where to spend.

Targeting follows segmentation: you divide the broad market into segments, then choose which to target. The discipline is choosing — trying to serve everyone usually means serving no one well, because a product and message sharp enough to win a specific group is necessarily less generic. A clear target market focuses everything downstream.

How to define a target market

Defining a target market means identifying who is most likely to want, afford, and value the product, then describing them concretely enough to act on — by demographics (age, income, location), firmographics for B2B (industry, company size, role), needs and problems, behavior, and value (who's worth the most). The result is often expressed as buyer personas (vivid representations of target customers) and, in B2B, an ideal customer profile (ICP). The test of a good target market is that it changes decisions: it tells you what to build, what to say, and where to spend — and what to ignore.

Why focus beats breadth

The instinct to define a broad target market — to avoid 'leaving money on the table' — usually backfires. A broad target forces generic products and messages that resonate weakly with everyone; a focused target allows a sharp product and message that wins a specific group decisively, which is often the beachhead from which a business expands. Many successful companies started by dominating a narrow target market before broadening.

The discipline is to choose a target market specific enough to serve exceptionally well, while staying alert to adjacent markets you can expand into later. A target market is a deliberate focus, not a permanent fence — but without the focus, marketing spreads thin and resonates with no one.

Worked example. A startup, afraid of limiting itself, defines its target market as 'everyone who could use our app' and markets accordingly — generic messaging, broad spend, a product that tries to please all. Growth stalls, because nothing about the offer is sharp enough to win anyone decisively. Narrowing hard, the team picks one specific, well-understood target market it can serve exceptionally, builds and messages directly for that group, and concentrates spend there. The product resonates, word of mouth builds within the group, and the company establishes a beachhead it later expands from. The lesson: a target market is a deliberate choice to serve a specific group well rather than everyone weakly — and focus, not breadth, is what gets traction. (Illustrative; RGM analysis.)

Failure modes to watch. Defining the target market as 'everyone' to avoid leaving money on the table (and resonating with no one); choosing a target based on who you wish bought rather than who actually does; describing it too vaguely to change any decision; never revisiting it as the business learns; and confusing the broad market with the specific group you can serve best.

Synonyms & antonyms

Synonyms

target audiencetarget customerICP

Antonyms

mass marketeveryoneundefined audience

Origin & history

"Target market" combines the military-derived 'target' (the thing aimed at) with 'market', formalized in mid-20th-century marketing as the discipline of segmentation and targeting matured — choosing which part of the market to aim a product and message at.

Etymology: source.

Usage trends

Search interest for this term over the last five years:

View interest-over-time on Google Trends →

Common questions

What is a target market?: The specific group of customers a business chooses to serve and aim its products and marketing at — defined by shared needs, characteristics, or value — so effort concentrates where it's most likely to work.
How do you define a target market?: Segment the broad market, then choose the group most likely to want, afford, and value your product — described concretely by demographics, needs, behavior, and value, often as buyer personas or, in B2B, an ideal customer profile (ICP).
Why not target everyone?: Because a product and message sharp enough to win a specific group is necessarily less generic. Targeting everyone forces weak, generic marketing that resonates with no one; focus gets traction and is often the beachhead for later expansion.

Resources & people to follow

referenceRGM analysis — definitions, senses, and usage verified per term

Curated, non-competitor resources verified per term.

Related training

moduleGrowth marketing foundations

Disciplines

Areas of marketing where target market is a core concern:

Growth strategyPerformance marketing

Sources

trendsGoogle Trends — "target market"