Skip to content
orderrimagemarketdeli

orderrimagemarketdeli

Share Your Knowledge

Primary Menu orderrimagemarketdeli

orderrimagemarketdeli

  • Business & Oportunity
  • Business & Finance
  • SEO marketing
  • traffic finance
  • Finance
  • News Business
  • About Us
    • Advertise Here
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Sitemap
  • General

5 Steps to Find Your Target Audience (With Examples!)

1 week ago Laverne J. Tiffany

Table of Contents

    • Table of contents
  • What is a target audience?
  • Target audience vs target market
  • Types of target audiences
  • How to find your target audience
    • 1. Start with your customers
    • 2. Look at your social followers
    • 3. Dig into your content analytics
    • 4. Check out your competitors
    • 5. Set your parameters
  • Creating your target audience profile
  • Target audience examples
    • Nike target audience
    • Starbucks target audience
  • Define your target audience—and use it


If you’re trying to please everyone, you’re pleasing no one. Right? It’s also true for your marketing: If you’re trying to reach everyone, you’re going to reach no one. People might see your ad or take a look at your website. But your ad and your message won’t resonate with anyone if you don’t have a specific audience in mind.

target market vs target audience

Related Posts:

  • How to Set Up a Webinar Your Audience Will Love

Image source

That’s why it’s essential to find your target audience—and start using it right away. So in this guide, we’ll give you all the information and the steps you need to do just that.

Table of contents

What is a target audience?

A target audience is the specific group of people that you want to reach with your marketing. That means your marketing collateral—from your email copy to your tagline to your brand story—should appeal to this group of people.

Here’s a great example of a targeted marketing campaign, including the video and the messaging, from AirBnB.

The voice in the video is young and impassioned. The imagery isn’t highly produced. Instead, it looks almost like a great iPhone video taken in the moment. This is clearly targeted to an audience of younger adults seeking authentic, spontaneous experiences when they’re traveling. And it works.

That’s why it’s so important to find your target audience. If you want your marketing to appeal to this group of people, you need to make sure you create everything with them in mind.

Target audience vs target market

We need a quick clarification of terms here: Your target audience isn’t your target market. Your target market is the specific group of people that your product or your service is intended for. Your target audience, on the other hand, is the specific group of people that your marketing is trying to reach.

target market vs target audience

Image source

For example, let’s say your product is dog gear—harnesses, bowls, leashes, toys. Your target market in this case is people with dogs. In order to reach your target market, you might have user-generated content in your social ads featuring happy customers, a newsletter with top dog stories of the week, a blog on pet care, and whitepapers for first-time pet owners. Your branding is sleek, modern, and minimal. Your target audience for this marketing campaign isn’t just pet owners; it’s young Millennials or Gen Zers who have their first dog.

target audience examples - landing page for millennials

Wild One’s landing page is super well targeted—the branding, the copy, even a toy specifically positioned for WFH pet parents.

Notice above how I said “this marketing”? That’s right. You could have a different set of marketing campaigns targeted at, say, families with a dog, or owners of multiple dogs, or even people who foster rescue dogs. In fact, HubSpot found that most marketers create content for multiple audiences, with three target audiences being the most common.

Types of target audiences

Your business can have a bunch of different target audiences, since these will align with the focus of your marketing efforts and your goals. In some marketing campaigns, you might get super-specific. If you run a landscaping business, for example, that could mean focusing on all your customers in one town with one event or discount to improve your customer base in that one area.

target audience example - trugreen targeting new england with google ads

TruGreen, a Tennessee-based company, targets new customers in Boston with this Google Ad and the accompanying discount.

When you’re working to identify your target audiences, though, you’ll want to focus on the types that align with the marketing channels you focus on regularly. Here are some examples:

  • Email: You might have a newsletter with tips that targets your general target audience, nurture email flows that target leads, and/or trigger emails aimed at current customers.
  • Event: You might host an event for an entire community, like in the landscaping company example above, or instead one that caters to potential customers. You could even throw an event for current customers or prospective partners.
  • Community: You might run a slack or Discord group that connects prospective customers in similar roles, or a similar community that connects customers using your product.
  • Ad: You could run Facebook Ads encouraging return customers, Google Ads targeted at prospects searching for a solution, or Instagram shopping ads targeting your competitor’s customers.
  • Social media: You might share a thought leadership piece aimed at influencers who would share it, a how-to video for your potential customers, or you could host a series of interviews with figures notable for your audience—whether those are authors, celebrities, or experts.

target audience types

How to find your target audience

If you’re not incredibly clear on who your target audience is—for your branding in general, for a specific marketing channel, or for a certain campaign—you need to take a step back to identify it. You can determine who your target audience is by looking at who is engaging with your product, your brand, and your marketing. Here’s how:

  1. Interview your customers
  2. Audit your social following
  3. Review your marketing performance metrics
  4. Take notes on your competition
  5. Define who your target isn’t

Now, let’s take a closer look at each.

1. Start with your customers

Your customers are the people who are using your product or service, so clearly, the positioning of your offering, the solution you presented, your marketing, or a combination of these worked. That’s why this is the perfect place to start.

First, look at the demographics of your customers—what are their job titles, where do they live, how old are they? Are there any patterns that emerge as you do so? Pay careful attention to patterns with your loyal, repeat customers. Then see if there are patterns in your one-time customers.

Next, it’s time to talk to your customers. This is the best way to get an idea of why they love your brand, your product, or team. That’ll help you with your positioning, including the benefits you’ll highlight in your copywriting and conversations.

Plus, it’s a great time to ask where your customers are spending their time and getting advice. Is it certain Instagram influencers, industry newsletters, or trusted company blogs? These customer insights are great data points to have, because you can prioritize these channels for your marketing.

how to find your target audience - customer interview questions

Image source

2. Look at your social followers

Your social followers are another existing audience that you can look at to see who your current marketing is appealing to. Even more, it gives you an idea of the consumers genuinely interested in your brand. According to Sprout Social, the most common reasons people follow brands on social channels are to get access to discounts, to keep up with company news, and to find out about new products or services.

how to find your target audience - reasons consumers follow brands on social media

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
  • Career
  • Household income
  • Activity level
  • Other brand followings

Again, you want to pay special attention to the people engaging more with your social profiles.

The good news is that you can use a tool—even a free tool—to analyze this data. Buffer, for example, also offers a free tier.

3. Dig into your content analytics

The next existing audience you need to take some time to dig into is your website visitors. Who is reading your content already? Who is downloading your whitepapers? Who is engaging with your videos?

Google Analytics is the natural place to start when you’re looking for  this type of information. YOu can learn:

  • Demographics. See how your users break down by location, including country and city.
  • Where users are coming from. Is Twitter a big referral source? Is it a niche industry news site? A certain blogger? This gives you more information about where to target your marketing campaigns.
  • Which topics resonate with them. What is and isn’t of interest to your website visitors can provide clues on who your target audience is and how to appeal to them.
  • What terms they’re searching. Find out what they’re looking up in Google that is leading them to your site.

There’s even an Interests tab where you can look at affinity categories and in-market segments:

how to find your target audience - affinity category tab in google analytics

4. Check out your competitors

You have competitors. Regardless of your product, your 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 advertising? Facebook? Instagram, or Twitter? Who are they addressing in their ads? What pain points are they stressing? Analyze their ads, their messaging, and their brand to put together a target audience and see how it compares with yours—including how it overlaps and how it differs. The overlap might help you see, and the difference? That’ll help you better articulate your brand’s differentiation.

target audience example - monday google ad targeting marketers on bigger teams

Here, monday.com clearly identifies the difference between its target audience and Trello’s: marketer on bigger teams, in charge of more projects, who get started ASAP.

In addition to the audiences your competitors are targeting, you want to know which of those audiences is actively engaging with its content. Duve into its social following to similarly identify the overlap and the difference. For a step-by-step process, check out our guide to competitive analysis on search and social.

5. Set your parameters

This last step might seem like an outlier in the process, but it is super important: You need to identify who your customer isn’t. Take the monday.com competitive ad example above. The team clearly decided who their audience is—and who their audience isn’t. Their audience isn’t someone looking for a simple, free Kanban solution. (That’s what Trello’s for.)

So for this step, take a look at all of your information—your customer interviews, your social following, your website visitors, and your competition’s comparable audiences. Then identify the gaps that you definitely don’t serve.

  • Are you a pet store that doesn’t stock reptile tanks? Your target audience does not include iguana owners.
  • Are you selling boozy milkshakes? You’re not trying to target anyone under 21, even if that might be hard to tell in your images.
  • Can you only serve US customers? Then your target audience is not anyone operating outside of those bounds.

Setting your parameters will help guide your marketing—and even your business strategy.

Creating your target audience profile

After you’ve aggregated all the data about your followers, all the anecdotal information about your customers, and all the details from your competition, the final step is to put it together in a target audience profile.

Here’s some information to include:

  • Location
  • Age
  • Gender identification
  • Job title
  • Industry
  • Education level
  • Household income
  • Interests
  • Hobbies
  • Platform usage

Your target audience profile will include specifics that are relevant to your brand, too. Here are some examples of target audience profiles:

  • First-time urban dog owner
  • College senior without a career plan
  • Trained chef working outside the industry

And with this information, you’ll want to develop personas to share with your team. These are detailed, fictional characters that make up certain buyers within your target audience

customer persona example

Target audience examples

Let’s finish off with some examples of target audiences for brands we’re familiar with, to help you firm up your understanding on this concept.

Nike target audience

When looking at Nike vs Under Armour, we can see that while the target market for both brands is people who wear sport and athleisure wear, there are several key differences in their target audiences. Nike is a higher-end brand whose marketing targets influential individuals in society and people up to 55 years old. Under Armour, on the other hand, is not for high-end earners, 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 mainly college students and professionals with higher income. With its in-store merchandise, healthy snacks, comfy couches, and free WiFi, it targets people who want to sip their coffee while working, conversing with someone, or enjoying some alone time (and saving the planet).

Dunkin, on the other hand, has minimal in-store experience and lower price points, targeting people on the go (America runs on Dunkin, after all) and with lower budgets. It’s also prevalent in the eastern half of the U.S.

dunkin vs starbucks target audience geography

Image source

Define your target audience—and use it

Having a clear picture of your target audience is key, but it’s not the final step. In order to make your marketing more effective, you need to make sure everyone on your team has these profiles in mind. So once you’ve got this definition, share it widely so that everything your business puts out there can cater to who matters most.



Source link

Tags: "Georgia Business Search, American Express Business Cards, Att Business Customer Service, Att Business Internet, Att Business Login, Bad Business Codes, Bank Of America Small Business, Buffalo Business First, Business Administration Jobs, Business Administration Salary, Business Analyst Jobs, Business Card Dimensions, Business Casual Female, Business Casual For Women, Business Casual Women Outfits, Business Ideas 2021, Business Letter Example, Business License California, Business Name Search, Business Process Reengineering, Business Proposal Template, Buy A Business, Card For Business, Chase For Business, Chase Ink Business Card, Columbia Business School, Costco Business Center San Jose, Emirates Business Class, Facebook Business Account, Fictitious Business Name, Florida Business Entity Search, Ga Sos Business Search, Google Business Email", Houston Business Journal, Illinois Business Search, Instagram Business Account, Is Lularoe Still In Business, London Business School, Master Of Business Administration, Men'S Business Casual, Pittsburgh Business Times, Qualified Business Income Deduction, Sacramento Business Journal, Secured Business Credit Card, Standard Business Card Size, T Mobile Business, Texas Business Search, Tië³´o The Business, Top Business Schools In Us, Types Of Business

Continue Reading

Previous Investors Pour Money Into Lipper General U.S. Treasury Funds Despite Performance
Next Attorneys general call on Biden to cancel federal student debt

More Stories

  • General

Snap, TikTok must strengthen parental controls, AGs say

9 hours ago Laverne J. Tiffany
  • General

‘General Hospital’ star Kelly Monaco home engulfed in flames due to cigarette

10 hours ago Laverne J. Tiffany
  • General

Squarespace Vs. Wix – Site Builder Comparison

10 hours ago Laverne J. Tiffany

Recent Posts

  • An SEO Guide to Google Advanced Search Operators
  • Hyundai Motor Group plans to invest $16.5 billion in S.Korea EV business By Reuters
  • Snap, TikTok must strengthen parental controls, AGs say
  • ‘General Hospital’ star Kelly Monaco home engulfed in flames due to cigarette
  • Squarespace Vs. Wix – Site Builder Comparison

Archives

  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • January 2017

Categories

  • Business & Finance
  • Business & Oportunity
  • Finance
  • General
  • News Business
  • SEO marketing
  • traffic finance

Visit Now

honda car
Intellifluence Trusted Blogger

BL

LP

TL

Related Article

  • SEO marketing

An SEO Guide to Google Advanced Search Operators

8 hours ago Laverne J. Tiffany
  • News Business

Hyundai Motor Group plans to invest $16.5 billion in S.Korea EV business By Reuters

9 hours ago Laverne J. Tiffany
  • General

Snap, TikTok must strengthen parental controls, AGs say

9 hours ago Laverne J. Tiffany
  • General

‘General Hospital’ star Kelly Monaco home engulfed in flames due to cigarette

10 hours ago Laverne J. Tiffany
  • General

Squarespace Vs. Wix – Site Builder Comparison

10 hours ago Laverne J. Tiffany
orderrimagemarketdeli.com © All rights reserved. | CoverNews by AF themes.
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT