Identifying Target Markets

Are you building a category creator or a challenger brand? That single decision determines your customer, your capital needs, and how fast you can scale. - Category Creator You are building a new behavior. You are not just selling a product: you are creating awareness, educating consumers, and building trust from scratch. The upside? You become the market leader. Top of mind. The one people associate with the category itself. The downside? It takes enormous time, capital, and patience. Think of Oatly making oat milk mainstream, or Beyond Meat making plant-based meat a household conversation. They weren’t just selling products. They were building categories. - Challenger Brand You enter an existing category: but with a product so differentiated that consumers are willing to switch. You leverage habits already created by the market leader and scale faster, with far better efficiency. But there’s a catch: Your product has to be meaningfully better. Not just different. Better. Think of Olipop challenging traditional soda, or Magic Spoon challenging legacy breakfast cereals. Same category. Completely different positioning. At Open Secret, we believe in the latter. We are not trying to invent snacking. We are trying to unjunk it. Same craving. Same habit. A fundamentally better product. That clarity matters. Because once you know the game you’re playing, your strategy becomes obvious. Are you building a category or challenging one? And which brands come to your mind?

I've noticed something about how marketers talk about their "target audience." Most of them focus entirely on demographics and job titles. Examples: • "We target CMOs at mid-market SaaS companies" • "We're after operations directors at D2C brands" • "Our ideal customer is a millennial parent who makes $100K+" But the most effective marketers I know focus instead on: • Where their audience already pays attention • Specific problems their audience is actively trying to solve • The language their audience uses to describe their challenges Demographics might tell you who someone is, but they don't tell you what they care about or how to reach them. The next time you're defining your target audience, try starting with "People who are struggling with X."

"How do I know which category I belong in?" It sounds simple, but getting this wrong can tank your retail success before you even start. Here's my framework for product categorization: 1️⃣ Start with your product descriptor: This isn't your brand name or flavor. It's the 2-3 words that tell someone exactly what your product is. The key? Your descriptor should NATURALLY categorize your product (+ it needs to be on your packaging right on the front): - "Plant-based yogurt" → dairy/yogurt section - "Collagen powder" → supplements - "Date sugar" → baking/sweeteners 2️⃣ Understand your customer use case: This is CRITICAL and often overlooked. Where would your customer logically look for your product or look to use your product? Example: A protein cookie could go in: → Supplements (for fitness folks) → Natural snacks (for healthy snackers) → Cookie aisle (for better-for-you treat seekers) The right answer? Wherever your core customer would look first! 3️⃣ Define your value-add: Who are you an alternative for and why? This helps pinpoint your exact category placement. For example: - Are you a healthier alternative? → Natural section - A premium option? → Specialty section - A convenient version? → Grab-and-go area 4️⃣ Validate with retail visits: Double-check your choice by doing the research.→ Visit 3+ retailers (mix of conventional & natural) → Check Amazon & Walmart's categorization → Map how each organizes similar products 🌟 Reality check: 🌟 Your category isn't just about where YOU think you belong. It's about: - Where buyers will place you - Where customers will look for you - Where you'll actually succeed on shelf Pro tip: Your category might shift slightly between retailers. That's ok! What matters is that you understand how each retailer organizes their products, so you can speak their language and meet your customer where they shop.

Most brand growth plans skip the most important question: 👉 What kind of category are we in? Because how your category grows should shape everything about your strategy: 🔹 Where you focus investment 🔹 How you prioritize innovation 🔹 What kind of growth is even realistic But here’s the problem — especially for brand marketers: Too many plans default to the same playbook, no matter the category: “Get buyers to buy more often. Upsell them to bigger sizes. Build loyalty.” A new study from the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute — led by Magda Nenycz-Thiel, John Dawes, and others — offers one of the clearest frameworks I’ve seen to pressure-test whether your brand and growth strategy match how your category actually grows. The research analyzed 13 years of data across 474 product categories and found that the primary drivers of growth change depending on one thing: 👉 Category size, measured by penetration Here’s the core idea: 🚀 If your category is small or low penetration Focus on expanding the buyer base — reach, trial, distribution. Stop chasing frequency. Stop betting on loyalty. 💸 If your category is large or high penetration Growth will come from price per unit — premiumization, pricing power — but only if you protect your buyer base from erosion. ⚠️ Across all sizes, the biggest reason categories shrink is losing buyers. Not usage decline. The Category Growth Framework from their research is one of the best strategic gut checks I’ve seen for brand leaders writing growth plans. https://lnkd.in/gzvcxJi4

Most marketers get this wrong: they think they should have one target audience. They shouldn’t. Take Peloton. Who is their audience? "People who want to work out at home"? Too broad. "Fitness enthusiasts"? Not specific enough. Peloton doesn’t have one target audience. Because the best marketers think in 5 levels of audience, depending on the need. Here’s how each one works for Peloton: 1. 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 → 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞. This informs the direction of your long-term strategy, shaping product development, expansion plans, and brand positioning. For Peloton, for example, this is the entire at-home fitness market, which informs decisions such as expanding beyond bikes into treadmills, rowing machines, and even strength training. 2. 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 → 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫. This defines your value proposition and the choices you make to deliver it. It influences features, pricing, and the overall experience. For Peloton, these are high-income professionals who value convenience and community, which leads to value prop components that include live and in-store classes, premium hardware, and a strong brand image. 3. 𝐌𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 → 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭. This determines how you talk about your product. It tailors messaging to different customer needs and objections. For Peloton, this means crafting different messages for busy executives (workout efficiency), new parents (flexibility), and ex-gym-goers (competitive training), all within that high-income professional market. 4. 𝐌𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 → 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡-𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞, 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡-𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐧. This dictates where you invest in attention. It prioritizes channels, placements, and creative strategies. For Peloton, this is people actively searching for "best home exercise bike", rather than just general fitness enthusiasts. 5. 𝐉𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐬 → 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐠𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐮𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭. This decides when and how you engage. It helps match content to the right moment: brand-building for early-stage buyers, conversion-focused ads for those ready to purchase. For Peloton, this means running educational content for people researching and direct-response ads for those closer to buying. Most companies fail because they collapse these layers into one. The best brands don’t speak to just one audience. They layer these targets to control the narrative and own the market. If your marketing isn’t working, the problem might not be a message problem but a targeting problem.

The key question in positioning isn’t what you call yourself. It’s what your market thinks you are. You can probably position your company in many different ways. There are many times when I've thought that market research is not the best category frame of reference for us. After all, market research is wider than what we do. I've thought of positioning Wynter as an ICP intelligence platform, a marketing testing platform, an audience validation platform, and other things like that. All accurate, in my head. But for most people, these phrases mean nothing. They don’t map to any existing mental category. Before you decide how to position yourself, ask your ICPs. Describe what your product does and the problem it solves. Then ask your ICPs: “In your mind, what kind of product is this?” That tells you which category they naturally place you in. Start there. We ran a similar survey with our ICPs recently, and found that overwhelming majority think that what we do is market research. That’s the frame people get. Now keep in mind that your differentiation must live inside your positioning statement. What we also learned from our ICP research was that many associate market research with baggage: it's old school, slow, expensive, largely agency-driven. Knowing these perceptions (and the competitive landscape) is critical for thinking about your differentiation. You don’t stop at naming your category, you need to explain why choose you within that same sentence. Classic formula: We’re a [category] that’s [unique differentiator]. For Wynter: We’re the fast alternative to traditional B2B market research (insights delivered in 48 hours instead of weeks). It's aligned with how people already think, yet highlighting our core difference. That’s the balance. You start with their frame of reference, then reshape it to favor you. Run that ICP survey now to check which box they'd put you in. You can launch it in the next 5 minutes: https://wynter.com/

Ever used “Personas” to define your target audience? Take a look at this demographic profile: – Male – 50+ – Married – Has children – Lives in a luxury home – Wealthy & famous – Runs global brands / partnerships – Constant media attention On paper, this persona perfectly describes both Elon Musk and David Beckham. But would you use the same marketing strategy to sell to the CEO-visionary of Tesla/SpaceX and the world’s most polished athlete-brand icon? Probably not. One is powered by contrarian futurism and “break the rules” energy. The other is built on taste, tradition, and mass-market trust. → This is why demographics alone are a trap. Instead of just looking at age and income, base your target audience on:    - Psychographics  - Pain Points  - Aspiration  - Buying Triggers Stop marketing to a “spreadsheet.” Start marketing to a human.

Unpopular opinion… If your clients aren’t on LinkedIn, you don’t need to be here. Seriously… If you’re in B2C selling hair products... Or your audience lives entirely on Instagram or TikTok… Don’t waste time. But if your audience is on LinkedIn? This platform is a goldmine… And you’re probably overcomplicating it. I learned this the hard way…. I was posting random tips, hoping “awareness” would somehow turn into leads. It didn’t. When I stopped guessing and built a focused system around…. Who I actually wanted to reach, everything changed. Here’s exactly how I’d do it again today: Step 1: Go deeper than just “who is my audience?” Most people stop at... “I target CEOs” or “I target marketing managers.” That’s surface level. You need to map the person, not the title. Ask: Who exactly are they? → Not just job title = industry, role, seniority, mindset. What’s their day actually like? → What meetings fill their calendar? → Who pressures them? → What decisions stress them? What’s the #1 problem that keeps them stuck? → Not a vague “they want more revenue.” → What’s the specific pain? What have they already tried that failed? → Knowing their failed attempts helps you position yourself as different. What do they secretly want? → Not just business wins. → Do they want to look good to their boss? → Do they want to save time? → Finally hit that promotion? Where do they spend attention? → Are they scrolling industry news? → Following niche creators? → Lurking in comment sections? Step 2: Build a precise list like a sniper… Once you know them deeply, translate it into exact filters on Sales Navigator. Here’s how… Industry: → Narrow to the specific verticals where your solution really hits hardest Company size: → Don’t target “everyone.” → Choose the size where you know you can deliver the most value. Seniority: → Are you talking to the decision maker? → Or the influencer who introduces you to the decision maker? Geography: → Remove markets you can’t or don’t want to serve. Step 3: Create content like a mirror… Most people post about themselves. You post about your audience’s reality. Write about: → The exact problems you uncovered in step 1 (make them feel seen) → The dream outcomes they secretly want → The mistakes you see people like them making → The lessons you’ve learned helping people in their shoes → The shifts in thinking they need to go from stuck → solved And show proof… Screenshots, mini case studies, behind-the-scenes of how you solve problems. Your content shouldn’t sound like marketing. It should feel like someone just opened your journal. Most overcomplicate LinkedIn... But when you strip it down, it’s simple… → Know them better than anyone else. → Talk about their world, not yours. → Show up daily in small, deliberate ways. → Build trust before you ever ask for anything. That’s it. P.S. Step 4-6 in pinned comments :)

There are only two ways to define your target audience: 1) By who they are 2) By what they are suffering from And only one of them leads to "Shut up and take my money" content. Imagine this: You’re an influencer marketing expert and you describe your audience like this: “Marketers / founders at DTC or e-commerce brands generating $10M+ revenue.” That’s so broad you wake up thinking: “What should I post about today?” So you default to content like this: “5 influencer marketing tips for 2026.” Meh, right? Now watch what happens when you include the problem: “Marketers or founders at mid- to upper-market DTC brands ($10M+ revenue) who already have proven the ROI of influencer marketing, but operations are inefficient, unscalable, and lead to inconsistent profitability.” Suddenly, the content writes itself. This sparks ideas like: “Paying influencers: a better structure than flat % commissions.” And that instantly signals: “I’ve seen the inside of businesses like yours. I know exactly where things break and how to fix them.” This is how specialists say “I’m an expert” without saying “I’m an expert”. REMEMBER: What you post is what you attract. If you post vague content, you attract an audience with vague expectations. That's how you set a trap for yourself and make selling harder. But if you post with a clear problem in mind, you attract people who “get it,” show up pre-qualified, and are ready to buy exactly what you sell. Start with the problem. Everything else gets easier.

The most underrated element in your B2B paid campaigns is your audience targeting. It's the foundation of every successful campaign — and it's the cheat code to driving higher quality leads. Instead of wasting hours creating more & more ad creative and ad copy, first ask yourself if you've maximized every possible audience available. My R.I.T.E Audience Framework helps break this down: 1️⃣ (R) Retargeting Audiences This is your warmest audience set. Max out this audience as much as possible by leveraging all available audiences based on a 30, 60, or 90-day timeframe including: All website visitors All pricing, demo, trial & case study visits All single-image ad interactions All 25-97% video viewers All company page visitors All document ad interactions All conversation ad opens All past event attendees All lead gen form opens (exclude lead gen form submissions though) All meeting no-shows & qualified leads that went dark without taking a meeting All closed lost contacts 2️⃣ (I) ICP Audiences These are your cold audiences filtered by industry, geography, and job titles to find your ideal customer profile. Spend some good time here. To help zero-in on the best ICP criteria, export a list of contacts from your CRM from your best-fit customers. Make a list of decision makers, champions, and influencers to define which job titles should see which specific ads. I encourage you to work with your sales team to refine this to avoid wasting ad spend on bad titles that will be disqualified later. Review this ~1x a month. There's tons of other data sources you can upload & layer on native criteria to. Here's just a few examples: Cold audiences from your current tech stack (CRM, MAP, Zoominfo, Apollo) Intent Audiences (G2, Bombora, CommonRoom, 6Sense) Website visitor contacts (RB2B, Warmly, Qualified) Technographic Audiences (Metamatch, Aberdeen, BuiltWith) Job Change Audiences (UserGems, LinkedIn Sales Nav) Funding Change Audiences (CrunchBase, KeyPlay) 3️⃣ (T) Target Account Audiences These are specific accounts you want to target. Don't sleep on this audience. Put your sales team on speed dial for this one so you can all align on the right-to-win accounts to target with ads. Layer on as much relevant filter criteria to target the right personas at these accounts. Review this ~1-2 months with your sales team. 4️⃣ (E) Exclusion Audiences Think of this as your "anti-buyer" persona. Exclude anyone you don’t want to waste ad spend on. Make it a habit to review your campaign's demographic reports to make sure you're not burning money on irrelevant audiences. Here's a few audiences I highly recommend excluding: Thank you & career website page visits All lead gen form submits Your company All existing customers All competitors & partners Poor fit job titles or functions (proactively add here based on disqualified lead feedback from your sales team) Poor fit industries Irrelevant company sizes Disqualified leads Target smarter, not harder. 🚀