Marketing - Target Market
Innovators, Early Adopters, Influencers

Target market is the group of potential customers selected for marketing. If you are looking to segment the market, you need to determine the different target markets for each segment. 

For new products, there is a theory that  you will have different groups of people. Each class has different risk tolerances. 

Innovators                   First 5% - 10% that adopt the product 
Early Adopters            Next 10% - 15% 
Early Majority             Next 30% 
Late Majority              Next 30% 
Laggards                     Remaining 20% 

Innovators and Early Adopters 

The innovators and early adopters are critical to launching a new product. If you could target your initial efforts at these groups, your limited resources will be well spent. They will become your champions. 

But who are they? Not an easy question. From some studies, the characteristics of the innovators and early adopters are: 

Venturesomeness: the willingness and desire to be daring in trying something new and different 

Social integration: frequent and extensive contact with others in one’s area 

Cosmopolitan: point of view extending beyond the immediate neighborhood or community 

Social mobility: upward movement on the social scale 

Privilegedness: attitude and possession of money (less risky to try something new) 

But be aware that it is not necessarily a smooth ride to go from one risk group to another. There is often times a time gap between moving from the innovators to the early adopters and then to the early majority and so on. 

Target Market Influencers  

In addition to targeting innovators and early adopters, finding the innovators and early adopters among the influencers of your market is important for a marketing plan with a limited budget. 

Example - Target Market for Your Music 

Many bands begin in the college market.  Why?  College students are target market influencers, and many fit the definition of early adaptors and innovators. 
 
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