You can’t afford to target everyone, and even if you could, it would be a bad idea.
The rules are simple: There are two types of advertising: good and bad. What is the difference? People believe in good ads, and they just watch bad ads.
To feel something for an advertisement, a person must recognize themselves in your advertising message.
If you want to create excellent ads, you need to know everything about your audience. Understand what motivates them to take action.
But, first of all, what’s the target audience?
Your target audience is the specific group that you want to reach with your marketing. These people typically share one (or more) similar characteristics that make them best suited for your product or service. By narrowing your focus and only targeting a specific audience who will be most receptive to your message, you’ll be able to market more efficiently—and more effectively, too.
Start identifying your target audience by envisioning the kind of person you think would benefit most from your product or service.
Answer on 5 questions: What? Who? Why? When? Where?
What: What is your product or service? What will you sell?
Who: Who will buy your goods or services?
Demographic: gender, age, marital status.
Socio-economic: education, career, income level.
Geographic: place, region, country, city, etc.
Psychographic: personality traits, psychological type.
Why: Why will people buy your products? What motivation do they have? What is the reason?
Take some time to list all the positive results your customer will get from the features your product or service offers. Include all of the ways your product or service can help a customer and their needs it can help fulfill.
When: when are your products useful for people? When are clients thinking about purchasing them?
Where: where can they buy your product? Where do they decide to buy it? Where can they contact your products?
This information helps understand the customer and how they make purchase decisions.
Find your target audience.
There are a few tried-and-true methods you can use to find your target audience.
1. Forums
For example, you can go to popular online forums like Reddit or Quora to see who asks questions or is interested in that industry/niche. It will help you pinpoint what age group, gender, and industry that your target audience might be in. Once you have narrowed down who this audience might be, you will be better positioned to market specifically for this group of people.
2. Stand-ups
Yes, stand-ups. Much of the humor is based on “hidden truth”: comedians notice moments and find social tension in everything. This way, you can understand your users’ culture and the problems they may face in their daily life.
3. Buy a product or service and test it for yourself
Think about how else you can use it, what are the hidden qualities and properties, invite everyone to try it on a brainstorm.
The most sincere advertising is obtained when people believe in the product and use it.
And there you have it! Now that you know everything you need to know about how and why to identify your target audience, it’s over to you to profile your ideal customer and figure out who you want to reach and what message you want to get them with.
You now have all of the tools to identify and build your ideal target audience and create content that speaks directly to their needs.
Throughout this process, you may have been surprised to find out details about your target audience that you did not anticipate or that are contrary to your assumptions about them. You must keep an open mind during this process and trust that your new target audience is based on research and fact, rather than return to your mass marketing habits. You will see rewards in time with higher conversion rates, increased customer engagement, and retention.
