You may have heard the term “target audience” before, but do you know what it means? Your target audience is a group of people that you’ve identified to be likely customers of your business. You can group these people by factors like demographics, behavioral patterns, geographic area, psychographics, etc. A business is likely to have more than one target audience. For example, if you own a clothing store, your target audience could be men above the age of 35 as well as women above the age of 25. However, many target audiences are more complex and niche.
Knowing your target audience is so important for your business and its advertising and marketing strategies. We’re here to explain to you why your target audience is so important, how to figure out who your target audience is, and then what you can then accomplish with that information.
Why Is Your Target Audience Important?
Knowing your target audience is so important because it defines what strategies and tactics you should use and how you should implement them. You don’t want to waste time, money, and resources sending messages to the wrong people. If you own a women’s boutique, advertisements sent to a male audience will not give you as much return on investment as ones sent to women. Now, imagine that you narrow it down even more. If you can figure out that your target audience is really women between the ages of 35 and 50 that are upper-middle class and enjoy the outdoors, you can target these women that are very likely to want to shop at your store upon receiving your ad. Being able to target the kinds of consumers that you want gives you a big upper hand against competitors that aren’t doing this.
How Do You Figure Out Your Target Audience?
To find your target audience, take a look at who already frequents your business. What do these people have in common? Also, think about who your “perfect customer” would be. Build a picture of someone in your mind. This hypothetical consumer should have values that align with your company. Don’t just think of the kind of person that would spend a lot of money once; picture someone that would continue to come back. What are the characteristics of this person? Determine their gender, age, class, interests, etc. Do this with the existing customers you’re looking at too. Remember that you can have multiple target audiences. Once you determine your target audience, start thinking of ways to target those kinds of people. The consumers you’re describing are the kinds that will be loyal to your business and make repeat purchases if you can find them and make them aware of your business.
Now What?
Once you’ve determined your target audience, you need to decide how to target them. Every audience will have a different channel preference. An audience in an older age range is more likely to be looking at traditional media ads rather than digital or social media ads. On the other hand, if your target audience is younger, you may see a lot of return on investment with social media ads. For social media specifically, you’ll also have to pick platforms. An audience’s frequency of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. can vary depending on many factors. It’s important to consider who your audience is and what platforms they’ll be active on when choosing where to post social media content.
Your messaging will also depend on your audience. Your brand voice always needs to be consistent. However, the tone should change depending on the platform you’re using. For example, your business’s wordage may be different on a social media platform versus the same message in a newspaper article. This can also impact the design. You may want a design for a potential client to be fun and vibrant while you’d want a design targeted at other local business owners to be sophisticated and to the point. All of these decisions stem back to figuring out who your target audience is and developing tactics that will specifically target them.
How We Can Help
Auburn Advertising is a public service of Inner Spark Creative, and we want to assist you with all of your marketing and advertising needs. We are a full-service agency located in the Auburn-Opelika area that can help you figure out your target audience and derive a marketing plan filled with strategies and tactics that target those people. Contact us today to request a proposal for your business. We would love to hear from you and discuss how Inner Spark Creative can help you grow!
