The target market plays a crucial role in any marketing campaign. Not knowing who you are talking to will be the one single most dangerous mistake any marketer will make. Targeting the wrong group can be equally as devastating to your campaign.
Who are the Malaysians?
With slightly more than 30 million people, Malaysia is not considered to be very highly populated in the region.
But it is a very challenging task for the marketer when it comes to identifying the target market in Malaysia because of its multiracial and multicultural landscape. This means that a campaign that can work in the state of Johor would not be as effective in another like Perlis due to the disparity in every demographic factor.
Knowing the demographics of Malaysians
The background of Malaysians is very important. For starters, the population of Malaysia grows quite steadily. The gender ratio is quite equal with about 107 males to every 100 females. Factors like these are very significant in identifying what messaging you can include in your campaign. Among other notable factors include:
- Age group: Among the total population, the highest are in the 15 to 64 years age group (about 22 million) followed by 0 to 14 years (about 7.5 million) and about 2 million are above 65 years old.
- The urban-Rural population ratio is at an average of 70:30.
- Selangor is the most populated state with about 6.5 million people and Perlis being the lowest with about a quarter of a million.
- The average household size is 4 persons (3.8 in urban and 4.7 in rural areas).
- The percentage of ethnic groups in Malaysia is 62% Bumiputera, 20% Chinese, 6% Indians, about 1% others and 10% non-citizens.
- Income group in Malaysia is divided between B40 (low income- 40%), M40 (middle income – 40%) and T20 (high income – 20%).
Getting the target market right
Because of the unique set up in Malaysia, identifying the right target market is very challenging. In any campaign, you will need to create content that communicates with your audience. This means you need to consider factors like:
- Location – Urban or rural.
- Ethnic group.
- Income level
- Access to media – This involves mainly where you can reach them like traditional or social media, etc.
