A principal concept in target marketing is that those who are targeted with promotional advertising should show a strong affinity or brand loyalty to that particular brand. Research has shown that demographic similarity, role congruence, lifestyle identification, and accessibility to retail locations all promote positive effects on the target market. Research has generally shown that target marketing strategies constructed from consumer inferences of similarities between some aspects of the advertisement (e.g., source pictured, language used, lifestyle represented) and characteristics of the consumer (e.g. reality or desire of having the represented style) are most effective.
The information gleaned in the “Discovery Process” of a site selection program makes an excellent foundation for targeting consumers who have the greatest propensity to become patrons of a store at a particular location. Rather than concentrating solely on demographics and lifestyle information to the exclusion of other influence, a target marketing campaign based on location modeling procedures can more precisely incorporate the impact of distance from the site, surrounding competition and dominant shopping patterns. This produces a much stronger foundation for target marketing campaigns, with higher response rates.