Every Business both online and offline has different visions that drive them and different goals they seek to achieve with their business but one Goal that is universal to businesses all over the globe is the goal of reaching more people and converting more people to customers because on this lies the sustainability of any business.
To ensure your business continues to grow and expand, you need to reach more people who could be your potential buyers and elicit interest in your product or service. You should see a steady inflow of people who are interested in exploring what you have to offer.
The process of building this pipeline of customers requires you to get their attention first, often through digital marketing. This approach is known as lead generation.
In a bid to increase your customer base, you may believe the best way to market your business is to get your message out to everyone. The more people you can reach, the more sales you can achieve, right? The problem with that approach is that it’s a bit like trying to catch all the fish in the sea. If you try to do that, you’re going to waste time and resources.
There’s a common saying in the world of digital marketing that goes like this: “If you try to sell to everyone, then you’ll end up selling to no one.” This is so true.
The truth is applying the approach of reaching everyone with your marketing campaign will make you burn out and frustrated. Just imagine having a thousand leads and when you put out an offer only 5 out of one thousand persons are interested in exploring your offer. This will make your marketing campaigns very ineffective.
The most effective and efficient way to market your business is by focusing on the group of consumers that is the best fit for your product or service — the ones most likely to buy what you’re selling and this is what defining your target audience is all about.
Now that you know that you need to focus your marketing campaigns on your target audience, who then is your target audience and how do you find them?
Who Is Your Target Audience?
Neil Patel puts it in simple terms ‘’A target audience is a share of consumers that a business directs is trying to reach with their advertising efforts’’
So, why is a target audience important? The simple answer to that question is that the channels, language, and information you use to connect with your audience might not be as effective with one demographic as it is with another. Finding your target audience definition will help you create a tone of voice that really speaks to your customer, making your marketing more efficient.
In finding your target audience, you need to ask yourself some questions and they include:
- Who are they?
- What are their biggest difficulties or problems?
- Where do they get information online?
- What real benefits are you offering them?
- What draws their attention negatively?
- Who do they currently trust?
To help you determine your target audience, let’s look at these questions in detail.
Who are they?
You can answer this question from the angle of demographics, Which is Identifying the demographics of the consumer who is likely to purchase from you — age, gender, occupation, level of education, income, marital status, ethnic background, etc
Another angle from which this question can be answered is from the activities of your target audience online. If someone is willing to engage with you, then chances are they are your target. Are they following people in your niche, do they engage with the type of products or services you offer?
If you carefully look through all that has been mentioned above and answer the questions raised, It’s safe to say that you would have answered the question of who your target audience is.
So now that you know who your Target Audience is, what’s next?
What are their biggest difficulties or problems?
There is a general saying that Business is all about looking out for a problem and proffering solutions to it, Right? This stands true when it comes to finding your Target audience because they will resonate with you based on the solution(s) you are offering.
Specific audiences face equally specific challenges. Determine which pain points your audience faces to figure out how best to help them.
Understanding the difficulties and problems that your target audience has will help shift the conversation from how they can help you to how your business can help them.
When you now have an understanding of their pain points, the next point of action is to channel your offers to address their problems.
One mistake businesses make is creating offers based on what they think is best for the audience, But a good offer is based on research and analysis of your potential customer’s behavior.
More so, understanding the difficulties of your target audience will help you find out that there are specific challenges that your competitors aren’t touching on, which you can address with your content. You can also use this to develop your company’s unique advantage or USP. It allows you to differentiate your company from the competition to advertise to your own customer niche.
Where do they get information online?
This is a very important question to consider when it comes to finding your target audience. Once you figure out who your audience is, you need to know where they get their information.
It’s essential to figure out how to get your audience’s information channel(s) and follow up where they’re most receptive.
Understanding where your target audience gets information saves you money by helping you choose the right channels for delivering your message. Instead of casting a very large net aimed at catching all the fish in the sea, you are able to use a smaller net deployed in a strategic way. Advertising aimed at your target market is more efficient and increases ROI.
What real benefits are you offering them?
Customers never buy products just because you put out an advert. They buy because they perceive some “benefit” from your offer.
You’ll get more customers, more quickly, if you communicate the benefits of using your product and you will get them to become loyal if you deliver on your perceived benefits.
Invest your efforts in building/creating a product that solves real-life issues, that is valuable and loaded with benefits.
Also, build on your USP (unique selling proposition), What particular value are you bringing on that your competitors are not? This gives you a competitive edge.
What draws their attention negatively?
When the topic of finding your target audience is being discussed, emphasis is always placed on the variables like what they like, their communication channels, their pain points e.t.c.
But it is very important to also take note of the things they avoid, and also things that they consider negative because understanding this will help you avoid the things they consider negative which will, in turn, attract them to your brand.
Who Do They Trust?
The trust between a consumer and a brand is just as important as any other relationship. When a brand is able to make a genuine, truthful connection with a consumer, then an incredible thing happens; it creates brand loyalty and this connection provides the basis of a consumer-brand relationship.
The truth still remains the fact that no one wants to buy from a brand they don’t trust, this is the reason why customers check for reviews before patronizing a brand.
Trust has never been more important for companies to develop and maintain. It affects every aspect of a customer’s relationship with a brand and can ultimately result in the success or failure of an organization.
To get your target audience to become customers and then progress to become loyal to your brand, You have to work on your brand’s reputation.
How to Build Trust with your Target Audience:
- Know your target audience
- Put out content consistently
- Be Honest in all your dealings, always deliver on your brand promises.
- Provide exceptional customer service.
CONCLUSION
If you want to become a successful brand and establish your presence in the market, you have to ask these questions mentioned above.
By asking each of these questions, you can better understand your audiences and the way they think, live, and buy.
Subsequently, this understanding can help you target your ads most effectively to convert customers. Before developing your campaign, take the time to perform in-depth audience research, which will ultimately give you the upper hand over less diligent competitors.
