Why You Identify YOUR Target Audience

When a social media marketer, marketing designer, or website master gets involved in your project, the first thing they want to know is “Who Is Your Target Audience?” The most common words I hear are, “Everyone!” No! The way you speak to a teenager vs. a parent or grandparent, athlete, fashion model, or teacher, is different!

You know the old saying, “A picture speaks a thousand words?” Here is a prime example. A teacher prepares her studies for the age group she is teaching. She definitely does not prepare lessons for high school Freshmen, when she is teaching third-grade students.

What is the definition of a “Target Audience?” Your target audience refers to the specific group of consumers most likely to want your product or service, and therefore, the group of people who should see your ad campaigns. The target audience may be dictated by age, gender, income, location, interests, or a myriad of other factors.

Target Audience Examples:

• Nike – Nike primarily targets clients who are between the ages of 15-40. Nike caters to both men and women athletes equally and is placing an increasing focus on tweens and teens to build long-term brand loyalty.
• Walmart – the biggest retailer in the US and the World! The average Walmart shopper is a 46-year-old white woman with an annual household income of $76,000. Some of its biggest competitors; Amazon, Target, Costco, and Kroger. Click here to learn more from Business Insider.
• Amazon – the average customer is also 46 years old and white with an average household income of $84,000.
• Target – has the youngest average customer compared to the other 4 main retailers. 43% of its shoppers are millennials.
• When it comes to gender, the majority across most of these stores were women. Costco was the only anomaly.
• Costco, the shopper here is older than any other store, and they have a higher household income just over $100,000.
• Krogers customers (average age range) 18-44. Core Group, Middle and Upper-class consumers including families and individuals.

For further breakdowns, gender, age groups, income levels etc. visit the Business Insider link above.

After a bit of research, I found this 9 bulleted list to be comprehensive and informative:

• Start with your current customers ~ find your customers that are the top gross revenue with the least amount of work. Find those customers that may not be the most profitable but that are repeat customers that keep the daily business operations funded. Last but not least, find those customers that you are losing money on and justify for yourself if you should continue to market to them.
• Think benefits, not features ~ who has a need or interest in your product or website and start narrowing it down from there. Make a list of all the different features and qualities of your offering, then think about who would benefit from those features.
• Collect demographic data on your target audience ~ collect data on user behavior, location, and demographics, do they own a home, work status, hobbies, age range, and friends.
• Send out customer surveys ~ your target audience is the people who find your product or services of value, so create a short and sweet survey that will give you much-needed insight that you may not be thinking of. Google Forms or Survey Monkey are just a couple of free survey creation tools.
• Look for trends in online customer feedback ~ identify the purpose of your product or service, what are the benefits that your product or service provides, this, in turn, will help you identify who exactly is buying or in need of your services or products. Utilizing Quora or Reddit online forums which will show you who exactly is asking questions or interested in that industry or niche.
• Go NICHE ~ know your niche and own it! Define the group of people you want to reach with your marketing message, join online forums where your niche is, immersing yourself in the community, will help you understand your customer’s problems, “see the world through their lense.”
• Research your competitors ~ you do not want to do or replicate what they are doing. Look for the areas that aren’t working so well, and ask yourself “how can you improve it?” What do you offer, or what question can you answer that the competitor and or google can’t answer?
• Create a map positioning map ~ market mapping, allowing you to identify gaps in the market or industry your product, service, or website operates in. A class on this technique is coming soon! Please fill out the short survey to indicate your interest in the class.
• Resist the urge to overcomplicate it ~ which type of person would be most motivated to respond to your call to action? Think of one person. If your friend John is the first person you think of, then your next step is to figure out what type of audience Todd belongs to.

Taking the time to fully define your target audience will give you direction, financial gain, and loyal clients. Everything you do should be centered around your niche market. I know that others talk about their target audience, but they don’t understand or do the work to fully define who their target audience is.