One of the basics of marketing is identifying your target audience.
By clearly defining your target customer or niche, you can then move to figuring out how to market to them, and what they will love or hate about your product or service.
A brand can’t be everything to everyone, so clearly defining your target audience or niche is key.
1) Narrow it down
Start with a brainstorm session where you figure out exactly what need your product or service fulfills and who is most likely to be interested in using it.
Consider demographic factors like age, buying power, location.
For example, the target audience for a $15 t-shirt versus a $500 jacket is completely different, just like the target audience for Airbnb compared to a five-star resort.
Consider the price of your product or service, the problem it solves, similar offerings and their clientele.
If you’re having trouble, ask as many friends, associates and anyone you know for their feedback. Are they attracted to it? What sort of lifestyle factors come into play for your target audience?
2) Define your personas
Marketing ‘personas’ can help refine your target audience and help you to better understand your audience’s needs and buying habits.
A marketing persona is a fictional example of the kind of person who would buy or use your product or service.
For example, if your product is a website, you might describe a fictional character and when they would use it, what problems they would use it to solve, a few options for their job or outside interests, and any other lifestyle factors that might influence how they use your product. Millennials would be more keen to see videos whereas, an older target audience might prefer written testimonials. There are some great examples of buyer personas here.
You might also like to create some ‘ideal’ personas and some ‘problematic’ personas, so that you can clearly differentiate the customers you do want to target your marketing towards versus those that you don’t.
3) Use data
Once your target audience and personas are defined, gather data to support conclusions about your audience.
Can you do surveys, or research some existing data that shows which demographic groups are buying specific products or services? Can you find data that shows how your target market uses the web? Be creative.
And don’t be afraid to talk about your product or service with friends, family and associates – is there anything they like or don’t like?
The results – and the input – are invaluable in identifying your target audience.
Need help defining your target audience?
At Assemblo, we can assist with defining your target audience to ensure your marketing is tailored to relevant prospects.
If you’d like to find out more about the benefits of defining your niche phone (03) 9079 2555 or send us details via the contact form below.