Knowing Your Target Audience

The key to success in marketing?

Know your target audience.

According to Herb Kimble, even the most creative marketing strategies will prove ineffective if they’re not developed with a consumer base in mind.

Ask yourself: Who is your ideal customer?

What Determines a Target Audience?

There are a wide variety of factors that will determine a company’s target audience, all of which should be evaluated with short and long-term corporate goals in mind. Some of the most common demographics companies consider when determining the target audience for a product include:

• Location-Is your company marketing on a global, national, state, or local scale?

• Age-Which population segment is most likely to purchase your product? Marketing techniques vary significantly between generations.

• Gender-Male or female? Or both? Does it make sense to market your product to a specific gender?

• Behavior-Are you looking for consumers that display certain purchasing characteristics?

• Motive-Why do you want consumers to purchase your product?

Acquiring Data

• Industry Sources-Check out reports and surveys published by those in your industry.

• U.S. Census Bureau-Refer to the U.S. Census Bureau’s findings for information about the demographic makeup of individuals in specific locations, etc.

• Customer Surveys-Ask customers to complete voluntary surveys after making a purchase or visiting your website to learn more about their preferences or

who they are. • Remarketing Techniques-Employ digital remarketing techniques on

your company’s website to collect information about the people that visit your website, and what tactics convince them to eventually make a purchase.

• Keyword Research-Analyze which keywords visitors to your website are searching for the most, or find out which keywords people search for when they visit a successful competitor’s site.

Once a company has determined the demographics of their target audience, how can they collect more specific information about this population?

Considerations

• Discern the buyer from the user. – The person that purchases a product may not be the person you actually want

to market to. If it was, commercials for something like dolls would certainly look a little different.

• Make note of how competitors are targeting your

audience. – (And assess the strengths and weaknesses of their approach.)

• Turn to focus groups.

– This tactic has been around for years because it has proven effective for most companies. Find volunteers that represent your company’s potential target audience to interview for feedback of your product. If they love the product, you’ll know that their demographic is one to invest time and money into, but if not, you’ll know it’s time to look into making adjustments.

Continue to Analyze

• Marketing tactics are constantly in flux, which means that the way in which you market to a target audience today may be different from the way you’ll need to do so in three month’s time. Your target audience itself could change, too.

• It’s therefore key that companies continue to analyze and redefine their target audiences over time. Even the smallest insight into how a target audience is changing can be valuable.