Identifying your target audience can be a challenge. Many business owners think “anyone interested in my services is my target audience” or that they target small businesses, homeowners, single moms, etc. While these may be demographics, they are way too general for a target audience. Targeting a specific niche of people doesn’t mean that you are excluding the rest of the world from benefiting from your products or services. It just means that you are focusing your brand message on a specific market that is more likely to buy from you. By identifying your target audience, you can market more efficiently and effectively. Here are some tips on how to identify your target audience.

Look at your current customer/client base. 

Take a look at your current customers and what they buy from you. This can tell you a lot of similarities in your client base, especially from the one client or customer that brings you the most business. This way, you can take those similarities and interests and use them in your marketing plan to attract more like-minded customers.  

Find out where your audience gets their information

Everyone needs information. We are presented with new information, whether news, entertainment, or catching up with old friends on Facebook every day. Finding out where your audience gets their information is important because you can talk to them using a specific channel and language. For example, if you know that your Facebook analytics are higher than your Twitter analytics, you may want to target more information on Facebook rather than Twitter.

Profiles and Personas 

These two attributes of your audience work with one another to enhance each other while building a symbolic relationship. By developing and deepening your audience, you will need to assess and create the following three breakdowns:

1. Audience Profiles: Your audience profile is essentially a review of trends, data, and your own research. Audience profiles are not about the behaviors and more about the demographics and data of your prospective audience. On the other hand, when shaping an audience profile, it is knowing what the audience wants and needs.
2. Audience Personas: Your audience personas are the ideal individuals and target personas that are small microcosms of the type of folks you want to attract, communicate, and connect with your story. They represent the potential users of your products or services. It is vitally important to consider multiple personas.
3. Psycho/Social Profiles: These profiles, by definition, are made up of individuals in the broad marketing context. It is the collective influence combined with psychological forces and the surrounding social environment your audience lives, works, and plays. It is their goals, dreams, opportunities, and as well the challenges that make up the decisions your audience will make.

Conclusion 

Knowing your target audience is the first step of making a successful marketing plan. Let MMG help you identify your target audience with our team of experts. We know the importance of having a solid marketing plan for your brand, and knowing your audience is the foundation of the plan in action. Take a look at our target audience page and then head over to our get in touch with us page and tell us how we can help you turn your ideas into a reality.