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Who is your target audience, and how are you marketing to them? Also, why does it matter?
Here's why it matters:
86% of consumers say personalization plays a role in their purchasing decisions.
In marketing speak:
Understanding your target audience's interests, how they behave online, and where they spend their time is critical to developing an effective marketing strategy.
An effective marketing strategy that actually reaches the people who are interested in your products and services is critical to the success of your business.
In regular person speak:
If you don't understand your target audience, you won't be able to reach them online, and your business will likely fail.
Let's break it down. Here are three ways you can effectively target your ideal customers. Think of it as online dating for your business (but without the creepy DMs).
#1: The importance of targeting the right audience.
Believe it or not, there was a time when business owners could get away with surface-level relationships. Unfortunately, those days have come and gone.
Knowing your ideal customer's basic demographics, such as age, gender, location, and income level, is still important, but it's not enough. People want you to know them as more than just a statistic on a spreadsheet.
They want you to get to know the real them. They want you to understand their hobbies, favorite colors, what they like to do on the weekends, and how they unwind after a long work day.
Here's an example: If you're selling grape soda and the person you are marketing to HATES grapes (as noted in their Instagram bio 🍇🙅🏻♀️), they probably don't want to see your ads. They definitely don't want to follow you for updates like "Here's why grapes are the ultimate fruit.". Simply put, if you're selling grape soda, you should probably make sure that the people you're targeting actually like the flavor of grapes.
The Takeaway: Understand and target people interested in what you have to sell.
#2: The importance of targeting your audience on the platforms they're active on.
Here's another example: If you research and find that over 50% of grape-loving soda drinkers in the United States are on Facebook, you should probably be marketing your grape soda on Facebook. 🤯
FYI - I made that stat about soda drinkers up. However, according to this article, a lot of soda lovers spend time on Facebook. Who knew?
Dividing your target audience into demographic segments is an easy way to determine which channels to market your product or service on.
Baby Boomers - Facebook, YouTube, and WhatsApp
Generation X - Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram
Millennials - YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram
Generation Z - YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook (followed closely by Snapchat)
Starting at the demographic level gives you a baseline for which channels you should research further. Adding sub-demographics, like "flavored soda lovers," will help you narrow your channel identification strategy.
The Takeaway: Research where your audience is spending time online and how they're using the platforms.
#3: The importance of creating content your audience is interested in.
After you understand who your audience is and where they're at, you can begin to develop content that they will engage and interact with.
Here's your final example: If you find that soda lovers are typically busy people who don't enjoy reading long-form content, you probably shouldn't use Pinterest to sell them an ebook about why your grape soda is the best grape soda on the market.
Here are some quick tips outlining what types of content perform best on each social media channel. The types of content are ranked in order of best performance.
LinkedIn - Video, Images, PDFs, Text Only, Links
Facebook - Video, Images, Text Only, Links
Instagram - Reels, Carousels, Single Images
Twitter/X - Video, Text, Retweet, Link, Images
If your primary audience is Millennials, who enjoy watching short-form video content, Instagram would be a great platform to post about your products and services.
If your primary audience is professional members of the Gen X generation who frequently download white papers about topics related to their business, LinkedIn would be a great way to target these individuals.
You get the point.
The Takeaway: Create content based on the channel you're posting on and the type of person you're trying to attract.
Understanding your audience on a personal level is key to developing a marketing strategy that ensures that you're talking to the right people in the right places and in the right ways.
Research plays a key role in determining how to develop your target audience strategy.
Are you ready to uncover who your ideal customers are and the best way to reach them?
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