Any business that doesn’t know its target audience is almost bound to fail. Catering to the wrong group or casting too wide a net when marketing can make your business appear messy and unsure of itself. Not to mention, it’s likely to confuse consumers as well.
Read below for our tips on how to find and cater to your target demographic.
Know Your Product
To know how to market your project, it’s first important to know what you’re selling. To define your product, start by listing out its features and the benefits those features provide. This will help you better understand who your product is likely to benefit.
Ask yourself what problems your product can solve. How does your product differ from your competitors? These are questions consumers will want to know.
It’s also helpful to frame your marketing this way. Products typically exist to solve an issue, and your customers will need to know what that issue is. For example, a shampoo that is effective at reducing dandruff should market itself as such. That way, consumers will know what they are buying, and you’ll be able to zero in on a market of people for whom dandruff is a concern.
Once you understand precisely what your product does, you’ll be able to figure out what demographic might benefit from it the most.
Who is your product or service for?
Most products aren’t designed to benefit every single person. So, ask yourself, exactly who is my product for? For example, if your product serves a common concern for older people, you won’t want to alienate that consumer base with marketing that might appeal to a younger generation.
To pin down your target audience, consider the following factors:
- Age
- Location
- Gender
- Ethnicity
- Occupation
- Income level
- Education level
- Marital or family status
Once you’ve nailed down these characteristics in your consumer base, you need to get to know them on a more personal level. What are their personalities? What values do they hold? What common interests might your consumers have? Getting into the nitty gritty of your audience’s traits and habits can help you generate content tailored specifically for them. And after you’ve answered the above questions, you can determine how your product can fit into your consumers’ lifestyles for their benefit.
Who is buying your product or service?
Although similar, knowing who is likely to benefit from your product differs from knowing who is likely to buy it. Things like income level, age, and location may play an even more significant role in your consumers’ decision to purchase your product.
Consider age. Are your audience internet and social media literate? Or are they more likely to peruse the daily paper or watch the 6 o’clock news for a dose of world events? The answer will affect where and how you market your product.
Where is the best place to find your target audience?
Thanks to the meteoric rise of the internet and social media, it’s now easier than ever to find your target audience using online tools. For example, Google Analytics offers tons of data with audience insights. With this tool, you can see what type of searches your product turns up in and what content resonates best with your consumers.
Social media sites like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook also offer similar audience insight features for free. These insights can help you determine what demographic your product appeals to most based on factors like age, gender, and areas of interest.
Using online analytics tools can also help you define who your audience isn’t. Once you rule out specific demographics from your target audience, you can focus on the groups that are likely to show interest in your product instead of catering to a broad audience, hoping that your marketing will find its way on its own.
Unsure how to reach your target audience? We can help.
Considering the above-listed factors, you can easily narrow down your audience to a key demographic. However, we live in a world where not everyone has the time to sit down for an in-depth analysis of their consumers’ tendencies. Likewise, with so many factors to consider, finding your target audience can be a daunting task that many might be hesitant to even begin.
If you need help finding your target audience, our team of digital marketing professionals is ready to step in. From curated branding to SEO content generation to website development, we’ve got you covered.