If you are trying to please everyone, you are pleasing no one. Good? This also applies to your marketing: if you are trying to reach everyone, you will reach no one. People can view your ad or visit your website. But your ad and message won't attract anyone if you don't have a specific audience in mind.
That is why it is essential to find your target audience and start using them immediately. So, in this guide, we'll provide you with all the information and steps you need to do just that.
Index
- Defining a target audience
- target audience vs target market
- Why do you need a target audience?
- Types of target audience
- How to find your target audience
- How to profile your target audience
What is a target audience?
A target audience is the specific group of people you want to reach with your marketing. That means youmaterial de marketing– from your email copy to your tagline and brand story – you need to appeal to this group of people.
Here's a great example of a targeted marketing campaign that includes AirBnB's video and messaging.
The voice in the video is young and passionate. The images are not very produced. Instead, it almost looks like a great iPhone video made on the spot. This is clearly aimed at an audience of young adults looking for authentic and spontaneous experiences when they travel. Works.
That is why it is so importantfind your target audience. If you want your marketing to appeal to this group of people, you have to design everything with them in mind.
target audience vs target market
We need a quick clarification of the terms here:Your target audience is not your target market.They aretarget marketIt is who your product or service is intended for. Your target audience, on the other hand, is the specific group of people within your target market that your marketing is trying to reach.
So if, for example, your target market is small businesses, your target audience could be local service-based business owners, marketing managers of small e-commerce retailers, or freelance marketing consultants. Or it can be all three.
Businesses often have more than one target audience in their target market.
Here are some more target audience examples:
- assisted living
- Target market: Seniors
- Audience #1: Seniors in the New England area
- Audience #2: Adults working with aging parents in the New England area
- moving company
- Target market: people who move
- Target audience #1: Residents of urban apartments
- Objective public n.º 2: suburban families
- plataforma PPC
- Target Market: Small Business
- Audience #1: Local service-based business owners
- Audience #2: Small Business Marketing Managers
And at an even deeper level, you'll have mini-audiences for every campaign you create. Actually,hubspotfound that most marketers create content for multiple audiences, with three audiences being the most common.
Why do you need a target audience?
With these examples, you can see why.knowing your target audienceIt's so important. It's the context you need to create content and messages that resonate. The PPC software provider that caters to the small business target audience will look totally different with their branding and marketing material than the PPC software provider that caters to corporate businesses.
And the advertisement that a nursing home creates for the elderly will be very different from the advertisement that it creates for adults who are caring for their elderly parents.
Types of target audience
Your business may have many different audiences, as they will align with the focus of your marketing efforts and your goals. In someMarketing campaign, you can be super specific. If you run a landscaping business, for example, this might mean targeting all of your customers in one city with an event or discount to improve your customer base in that area.
TruGreen, a Tennessee-based company, is targeting new customers in Boston with this Google ad and accompanying discount.
But when you work to identify your target audience, you should focus on the types that align with the marketing channels you regularly focus on. Here are some examples:
- Email:you can have oneNewsletterwith tips targeted to your general audience, fueling targeted email flows to potential customers, and/or triggering targeted emails to current customers.
- Event:You can host an event for an entire community, like the landscaping company example above, or one that caters to potential customers. You can even throw an event for current clients or potential partners.
- Community:You can run a Slack or Discord group connecting potential customers in similar roles, or a similar community connecting customers using your product.
- Adverts:You couldrun facebook adsencourage repeat customers, Google ads targeting potential customers looking for a solution, orinstagram shopping adstargeting your competitor's customers.
- Social Media:You could share a thought leadership piece aimed at influencers who would share it, an how-to video for your prospects, or you could host a series of interviews with notable figures for your audience, be they authors, celebrities, or experts.
How to find your target audience
If you are not very clear about who your target audience is, for your brand in general, for amarketing channels, or for a particular campaign: you need to take a step back to identify it. You can determine who your target audience is by looking at who interacts with your product, your brand, and your marketing. To see how:
- interview your clients
- Audit your social followers
- check yourmarketing performance metrics
- Take notes on your competition
- Define who is not your target
Here's an infographic outlining the steps above, courtesy offriendship's Day:
Click to see full size
And here's a look at each step!
1. Start with your customers
Your customers are the people who use your product or service, so clearly your positioning of your offer, the solution you presented, your marketing, or a combination of these worked. That's why this is the perfect place to start.
First,see demographicsof your clients: what are their titles, where do they live, how old are they? Are there any patterns that emerge when you do this? Pay close attention to patterns with your loyal and repeat customers. Then look for patterns in your unique customers.
Then it's time totalk to your customers. This is the best way to get an idea of why they love your brand, product or team. This will help you with your positioning, including thebenefitsyou will stand out in your writing and conversations.
Also, it's a good time to ask where your customers hang out and get advice. Are certain Instagram influencers, industry newsletters, or company blogs trustworthy? Thosecustomer perceptionsThese are great data points to have because you can prioritize these channels for your marketing.
Questions related to problems/weak points:
- What was the problem you were trying to solve?
- How were you solving/trying to solve the problem before us?
- If you have used other providers in the past, what problems have you encountered with them?
- Did you have any doubts in choosing us?
- Is there anything we can do to improve?
Questions related to lifestyle/behavior:
- How did you hear about us?
- What terms did you search?
- What media/newsletters do you read related to this topic?
- What social media platforms do you use?
- How much time do you spend online?
Questions related to your competitors:
- What made you choose us over the competition?
- What is the main benefit of our product/service?
- What additional benefits did you experience?
- What do you like about us?
2. Keep an eye on your social followers
Your social followers are another existing audience that you can look at to see who your current marketing is engaging. More so, it gives you an idea of the consumers who are really interested in your brand. In accordance withsocial outbreak, the most common reasons people follow brands on social channels are to gain access to discounts, keep up with company news, and discover new products or services.
You won't have the same access to your social followers as your customers. If you still want to do an interview, make sure it's a quick survey with super specific questions. Otherwise, focus on demographics and behavior. Here are some things to consider:
- Location
- Age
- Carrera
- family income
- activity level
- Followers of other brands
Again, you should pay special attention to the people who interact the most with your social profiles.
The good news is that you can use a tool, even a free one, to analyze this data. Buffer, for example, also offers a free tier.
3. Dive into your content analysis
The next existing audience that you need to take the time to tap into is your website visitors. Who is already reading your content? Who is downloading your technical documents? Who interacts with your videos?
Analytical Googleis the natural place to start when looking for this type of information. You can learn:
- DemographySee how your users are broken down by location, including country and city.
- Where do the users come from?Is Twitter a great referral source? Is it a niche industry news site? A certain blogger? This gives you more information about where to target your marketing campaigns.
- What themes resonate with them.What is and isn't of interest to your website visitors can provide clues as to who your target audience is andhow to attract them.
- What terms are they looking for?Find out what they are searching for on Google that leads them to your site.
There's even an interests tab where you can view affinity categories and market segments:
4. Take a look at your competitors
You have competitors. Regardless of your product, offering, and target audience, you have competition. And you can use them.
Take a look at who your competitor is targeting in their marketing. Where are they advertised?Facebook? Instagram or Twitter? Who are they targeting in their ads? Thatpain pointsare you stressed? Analyze your ads, messaging, and brands to gather an audience and see how they compare to yours, including how they overlap and how they differ. Overlay can help you see, and the difference? This will help you better articulate your brand differentiation.
Here, monday.com clearly identifies the difference between its target audience and Trello's: marketers on bigger teams, responsible for more projects, starting as soon as possible.
In addition totarget audiences of your competitors, you want to know which of these audiences is actively engaging with your content. Dive into your social following to spot overlaps and differences alike. For a step-by-step process, see our guide tocompetitive analysisin search and social networks.
5. Set your parameters
This last step may seem like an outlier in the process, but it's very important: you need to identify who your customer is.it's not. Get monday.comcompetitive ad exampleabove. The team has clearly decided who is their audience and who is not. Your audience is not someone looking for a free and simple Kanban solution. (That's what Trello is for.)
So for this step, take a look at all your data: customer interviews, social media followers, website visitors, and competitor comparable audiences. Then identify the gaps that you are definitely not addressing.
- Are you a pet store that doesn't have reptile tanks? Its target audience does not include iguana owners.
- Are you selling alcoholic shakes? He's not trying to address anyone under the age of 21, even if that's hard to tell from his pictures.
- Can you serve US customers only? Therefore, your target audience is not just anyone who operates outside of those boundaries.
Defining your parameters will help guide your marketing and even your business strategy.
Profiling your target audience
Once you've added all the data about your followers, all the anecdotal information about your customers, and all the details about your competition, the final step is to bring them all together in an audience profile.
Here is some information to include:
- Location
- Age
- gender identification
- Charge
- Industry
- Education Level
- family income
- interests
- hobbies
- Use of the platform
Your audience profile will also include details relevant to your brand. Here are some examples of audience profiles:
- First Time Urban Dog Owner
- College student with no career plan
- Trained chef working outside the industry
And with that information, you'll want to developpersonasto share with your team. These are detailed fictional characters that make up certain buyers within your target audience.
Examples of target audience
let's finish with sometarget audience examplesfor the brands we know, to help you solidify your understanding of this concept.
Wild
Suppose your product is dog equipment: harnesses, bowls, leashes, toys. Your target market, in this case, is people with dogs. To reach your target market, you may needuser generated contenton their social ads with satisfied customers, a newsletter featuring the top dog stories of the week, a pet care blog, and whitepapers for first-time pet owners. His brand is elegant, modern and minimalist. Your target audience for this marketing campaign is not just pet owners; it is the young Millennials or Gen Zers who get their first dog.
WildThe landing page is very well targeted: branding, copy, and even a toy positioned specifically for WFH pet owners.
airbnb
Clearly, the target audience for this campaign is adventurous dog lovers.
Would these ads have the same impact on dog lovers if they had an image of a smiling person with a suitcase and a marker indicating dog-friendly hosts? No.
But Airbnb also runs campaigns that target young couples, single professionals, seniors, and more.
Nike's target audience
when lookingNike x Under Armour, we can see that although the target market for both brands is people who wear sportswear and sportswear, there are several key differences in their target audiences. Nike is a sophisticated brand whose marketing is aimed at social influencers and people under 55 years of age. Under Armour, on the other hand, is not for the money-maker, has a mostly male audience, and targets the 18-25 Gen Z demographic.
Starbucks target audience
Let's compare Starbucks vs Dunkin. Starbucks' target audience is primarily college students and higher-income professionals. With in-store merchandise, healthy snacks, comfy sofas, and free Wi-Fi, the target audience is anyone who wants to grab a coffee while working, chatting, or spending time alone (and saving the planet).
Dunkin, on the other hand, has minimal store experience and lower prices, targeting people on the go (America runs Dunkin, after all) and lower budgets. It is also common in the eastern half of the US.
Define your target audience and utilize it
Having a clear picture of your target audience is critical, but it's not the final step. To make your marketing more effective, you need to make sure everyone on your team has these profiles in mind. Then, once you have that definition, share it widely so that whatever your business puts out can serve those who matter most.
FAQs
What are the five steps to identify your target audience? ›
- Analyze Your Customer Base and Carry Out Client Interviews. ...
- Conduct Market Research and Identify Industry Trends. ...
- Analyze Competitors. ...
- Create Personas. ...
- Define Who Your Target Audience Isn't. ...
- Continuously Revise. ...
- Use Google Analytics.
...
Psychographic
- Interests.
- Attitudes.
- Values.
- Lifestyle.
Determining your primary target audience is crucial when launching a business, or a product or service from your existing business. Geographic, demographic, psychographic and behavioral are the four levels of segmentation that can help define your business's primary target audience.
What are the 5 steps in segmenting and targeting markets? ›The process of market segmentation consists of 5 steps: 1) group potential buyers into segments; 2) group products into categories; 3) develop market-product grid and estimate market sizes; 4) select target markets; and 5) take marketing actions to reach target markets.
How do you find target audience information? ›- Use Google Analytics to learn more about your customers.
- Create a reader persona to target blog content.
- Look at social media analytics.
- Use Facebook Insights.
- Check on website performance.
- Engage with social media audiences.
- Friendly. Your purpose: reinforcing their beliefs and sense of shared interests.
- Apathetic. Your purpose is to first convince them that it matters for them.
- Uninformed. Your requirement is to educate before you can begin to propose a course of action.
- Hostile.
Types of target audiences
You can define your target audience based on various attributes. Gender, age, education, and income are just a few examples of your audience segmenting. For the best research results, divide these audiences into three categories – demography, interests, and purchasing intentions.
There are many ways to segment markets to find the right target audience. Five ways to segment markets include demographic, psychographic, behavioral, geographic, and firmographic segmentation.
What is step one in getting to know your audience? ›Step 1: Conduct Market Research. When you want to know more about your target audience, you need to conduct good old-fashioned market research. The goal of market research is to get as many details as possible about the group you're targeting, which you can later use to build personas.
What are the 7 types of targeting? ›- Demographic Targeting. ...
- Geographic Targeting. ...
- Placement, Device and Platform Targeting. ...
- Behavior & Interest Targeting. ...
- Keyword & Topic Targeting. ...
- Custom Audience Targeting & Retargeting. ...
- Targeting Using Third Party Data.
What are the 4 main elements of a target market? ›
A target market can be translated into a profile of the consumer to whom a product is most likely to appeal. The profile considers four main characteristics of that person: demographic, geographic, psychographic, and behavioral.
What are the three 3 steps in target marketing strategy? ›The three-step funnel consists of market segmentation, market targeting, and product positioning.
What are target market examples? ›A target customer is an individual that's most likely to buy your product. And it's a subset of the broader target market. For example, if your target market is female athletes between the ages of 13 to 25, a target customer could be female athletes in the specific age range of 13 to 16.
What is an example sentence for target audience? ›The targeted audience of the program is 75 000 people. The station's targeted audience were listeners in their 50s and older.
What is target audience name? ›What is the target audience? Basically - your potential customers. Group of people to whom you address your products or services. It can be described by behavioral and demographic attributes, such as age, gender, income, education or localization.
What are examples of audience? ›Audience Definition
Some general examples of an audience in literature would be children, young adults, or adults. For example, The Boxcar Children series was written for an audience of children, The Hunger Games series was written for young adults, and the Broken Earth series was written for adults.
The 5 areas you need to make decisions about are: PRODUCT, PRICE, PROMOTION, PLACE AND PEOPLE. Although the 5 Ps are somewhat controllable, they are always subject to your internal and external marketing environments.
What are the 5 W's of advertising? ›The 5 W's: who, what, when, where, and why (and don't forget how!).
What are the 7 steps in segmentation process? ›- Identify the target market. The first and foremost step is to identify the target market. ...
- Identify expectations of Target Audience. ...
- Create Subgroups. ...
- Review the needs of the target audience. ...
- Name your market Segment. ...
- Marketing Strategies. ...
- Review the behavior. ...
- Size of the Target Market.
- Ask your customers questions and LISTEN to them. ...
- Mine data to visualise your customer. ...
- Put yourself in their shoes. ...
- Know their interests and habits. ...
- Be clear about what you want them to do.
What are the 6 most important things a speaker would need to know about this audience? ›
- Who Are They? ...
- What Do They Want? ...
- What Do You Have in Common? ...
- What Do They Know? ...
- What is Their Mood? ...
- What are Their Doubts, Fears and Misperceptions? ...
- Understanding Your Audience Brings Confidence.
The three most common types of target marketing fall into demographic, geographic, or psychographic categories.
What is the first step in target marketing? ›The first step to engaging a target market is to determine the scope of your existing consumer base. Once you know the traits and habits of your current customers, you can decide whether to pursue new ways to reach customers in that market or find other groups to target as potential customers.
What are the 4 main marketing strategies? ›(Marketing mix explained) The four Ps are product, price, place, and promotion. They are an example of a “marketing mix,” or the combined tools and methodologies used by marketers to achieve their marketing objectives.
What are the 3 most effective methods to reach your best customers target market )? ›- Define Your Target Audience. ...
- Learn Where Your Target Audience is Active. ...
- Target Language in Your Messaging. ...
- Use Multiple Social Media Channels. ...
- Take Advantage of Referrals.
- What Are Markets?
- Target Market Selection Process.
- Step 1: Identify the Appropriate Targeting Strategy.
- Step 2: Determine Which Segmentation Variables to Use.
- Step 3: Develop Market Segment Profiles.
- Step 4: Evaluate Relevant Market Segments.
- Step 5: Select Specific Target Markets.
- Developing Sales Forecasts.
The building blocks of an effective marketing strategy include the 6 P's of marketing: product, price, place, promotion, people, and presentation. The effective integration of the 6 P's of marketing can serve as the foundation for an effective growth strategy.
What are the 4 P's of target? ›This is based on the 4 P's formula, which is adjusted and extended to include other crucial factors such as demand, price, promotion, and place.
What are the 5 key elements of marketing? ›There are five elements of a marketing mix, otherwise known as "the five P's," of marketing: product, price, place, promotion, and people. Careful consideration of these five elements will help a business better craft marketing plans that effectively reach their target audience.
What are the 5 element in marketing planning? ›- Marketing Goals and Objectives. ...
- Define Your Target Audience. ...
- Research Marketing Tactics. ...
- Plan Your Marketing Tactics. ...
- Develop Your Timeline and Budget.
What are the 7 keys of marketing? ›
The 7Ps of marketing are – product, pricing, place, promotion, physical evidence, people, and processes. The 7 Ps make up the necessary marketing mix that a business must have to advertise a product or service.
Are there 4 or 5 P's of marketing? ›The 5 areas you need to make decisions about are: PRODUCT, PRICE, PROMOTION, PLACE AND PEOPLE. Although the 5 Ps are somewhat controllable, they are always subject to your internal and external marketing environments. Read on to find out more about each of the Ps.