Defining your Target Audience

To reach and convert your ideal customer base, you have to know who you’re talking to. 

Online consumers widely vary in social media practices and preferences. Without narrowing your strategy to suit demographics who will be interested in your brand, you may be wasting your efforts on users who will scroll right by your carefully-curated graphics.  

That’s why before you create your content strategy, or even pick your platforms, you need to define your target audience. 

Your target audience, in essence, is a group of people most likely to be interested in your brand, products, or services. They’re the ones in need of your expertise, who would benefit from your merchandise, or who follow news in your niche. 

A target audience can be made up of many demographics, such as people of multiple ages and genders who share a common interest. It can also be much more specific, such as folks who live in a certain area or experience the same ailment. 

How to Define Your Target Audience 

You can’t develop a brand personality and hone your content practices until you know who you’re creating for. Here are three steps to help you determine your ideal audience. 

Review Your Brand’s Mission

When you first designed your product or service, you likely had someone in mind. 

Who, or what, did you start your small business for? What inspired you to take the leap in the first place? 

You may have pictured another small business owner relieved at the opportunity to outsource work to your brand, or a parent excited to find your non-toxic clothing that’s safe for their kid’s sensitive skin. 

Whoever you had in mind, write them down. This is your initial target audience. 

Another way to determine your ideal customer is to dissect your product or service. How will it improve their life? Who would benefit most from trying your offers? 

Make a list of all of the ways you want your brand to help people. For each of these, write down a (realistic) circumstance in which a customer could really use your services. Note the similarities and the differences; this will show you the range of your ideal audience.

Additionally, make sure your target audience can afford what you’re selling. While you may get a lot of views marketing to your initial ideal customer, you won’t make conversions and sales if they aren’t able to participate. 

There are people out there who will love your brand and what it stands for. Someone out there will greatly benefit from what you have to offer. 

This is the audience you need to reach! 

Do Your Research

After you review your brand’s ideal customers, it’s time to learn more about them. 

You need to find out their needs, struggles, and preferences in order to narrow down exactly who to market to. This involves looking at data, reading first-hand experiences (such as articles, blogs, and social media posts,) and putting yourself in their mindset. 

The more you know about their problems, the better you can offer them solutions through thoughtful marketing tactics. Not only can this increase your conversions, but deliberately connecting with your audience increases your chances of building an engaged and ever-growing community. 

In addition to your initial ideal clients, your target audience may include people you haven’t even thought of yet. After you’ve reviewed your brand’s standard customers and their needs, try searching outside of the box. 

Look for people who experience similar issues, share related interests, and have comparable values. 

Additionally, look at similar small businesses and brands that are successful within your niche. Who do they reach? What demographics interact with their content? 

Researching for your target audience also involves paying attention to trends in your industry. Always keep a lookout for new challenges on the horizon. 

If you notice a recurring issue in your niche that your service can help with, don’t expect that audience to find you automatically. Instead, include them in your strategy and reach out by using relevant hashtags.

Take Stock of Your Current Customers

If your brand has already gained a few buyers or viewers, you have an advantage. 

Pay close attention to the users who interact with your posts. What do they have in common? Are most of them parents? Teens? Singles? 

Not all of this information is consistently available, but you can look at the type of content they engage with to see if there are any shared (and relevant) interests. 

If you’re a B2B brand, look at the sectors the majority of your customers reside in. Is there overlap in the industries or types of industries? Do they cater to similar customer needs? Do they all face similar roadblocks? 

Depending on how close you are to your current customer base, you may even be able to poll them. This can help you figure out what they like about your brand, how it benefits them, and what keeps them coming back. 

From there, you can continue to refine your target audience. 

Where your current customers view content will also help you determine which channels to focus most of your energy on. If most of your audience is active on Instagram, don’t spend all of your energy building a Twitter following. 

You can review your post analytics to see which content types are gaining the most views. If your videos are getting more interaction than your graphics, your customers may be looking for more engaging content. 

Target Audience Takeaways 

After you define your target audience, you’ll have a better idea of how to grab their attention based on each demographic you serve. 

You can curate the tone and flashiness of your content accordingly. How you market to new graduates won’t be the same as how you market to new parents, for example. 

Keep in mind that as your brand grows and changes, your ideal customer base may shift as well. That’s why it’s essential to routinely revisit these steps and refine your target audience. 

Always In Your Corner, 

The Content Queens