Launching a new business, blog or website will successfully kick off if you have your potential customers in mind and know who they are. But finding the right target audience is not an easy feat. The whole research process is tricky and might even frustrate you.
But how will you sell and communicate with your potential clients if you don’t know them? So don’t worry. Take a deep breath because this blog will teach:
The difference between audience and persona
How to analyze your competitors
Importance of an in-depth look at your existing audience
How to take advantage of open data source
Perform market segmentation
The right target audience is crucial
Your target audience is the people you aim to acquire a new business or sell a product to. It is the share of people willing to buy your product, read your blog, support your organization or listen to your podcast.
Keep in mind: Not everyone is your target audience. If you want to get more business, you will have to narrow it down and only focus on the group of people who will actually buy your product.
In simpler words, your marketing efforts will be more efficient if you choose the right audience your work is aimed at.
Your target audience is different from target persona. The former is a broad group of people, while the latter is a very specific profile of your ideal client.
For instance, a company sells water-resistant shoes. Their target audience is working professionals. But their target persona is a man of 24-35 working for a marketing agency in New York and is active on social media.
How do you find your target audience?
There are many ways to search for your ideal client and some of them are:
- Look at your competitors
When you research your competitors, you analyze what they are doing to attract their target audience. Did they focus on a certain feature of the product? Did they use a specific visual content tricks to catch their attention?
Do this by checking out their website and social media pages. Don’t be afraid to use spy tools to see what they are up to, such as Moz, SpyFu, SEMrush, Ubersuggest etc. They can provide data-driven reports and comparison charts to help you have a better understanding of your competitors.
- Check out your existing audience
If you have an existing audience (e.g., if you already have a blog, newsletter or community), take a closer look at them by performing in-depth analysis.
Look at the data you already have about these people such as: what is their life stage, where they live, which social media channels they are active on, are married or single, what triggered them to purchase etc.
These people can tell you what possible problems you may address and the motives that can trigger them to buy more.
For instance, a blog sells an eBook on how to build an app from A-Z. They found out that their customers are highly educated people looking for new ways of learning something new. By doing this research, they can better understand the target audience and know what problem they will solve with their product.
Surveys, feedback, customer interviews and data reports can also help you get more information.
- Take advantage of open data source
There is a wide range of available data sources out there you can take advantage of to find the right target audience for your campaign. Tools like Google Trends, Google Insights for Search, Keyword Planner and Google consumer surveys can help you determine the interest of a certain group of people.
For example, if you want to know what concerns women have about their physical appearance, perform a search on Google. You will be able to see the top related queries for your keyword.
See what the most searched queries are and look at the metadata around each result (e.g., when it was published, how many views it had, etc.). With this information, you are able to determine the topics that are trending and which people really want to know.
Moreover, don’t forget to take a look at the related searches as well.
A search on Google is also an open data source you can use to help you find a target audience. Look at the related searches of your keyword and see what queries people perform after they click on your result.
This information can help you identify other potential keywords people might be interested in.
- Perform market segmentation
The term “market segmentation” pertains to dividing markets into smaller groups of people who need or want the same products to achieve diversity in target audience.
Market segmentation is not just about dividing a broad audience into categories. It is also about finding the right balance between audience size and profitability.
To do this, you have to search for a market that fits your business: Look for the best offer and the one with the highest potential market size and lowest competition.
An example is better than words. So here is an example of market segmentation:
A firm wants to create a new food item. They are currently targeting people who love to eat salad(health-conscious individuals). They want to know if there is a segment of people who love to eat salad but are looking for something different than the norm.
Performing market segmentation can help you introduce your product among a specific group of people, who will not only pay attention to it in the beginning stage of growth, but also develop brand loyalty.
If they segment their audience by lifestyle, they can find out what messages would be relevant to each group like sporty, casual, casual, active etc. Perhaps, they may also try to segment by work status. Job title, marital status, income level etc. will help them find out what appeals to which group of people.
Final thoughts
Target market research is crucial for any business to understand the market better. Knowing what is happening in your target audience helps you convey the right message that can trigger them to buy from you.
While there is no one-size-fits-all approach, performing deep research on your audience by looking at their behavior, lifestyle, and other available data sources can help you gain important insights that will help shape your marketing strategy to have a better chance at success.
Still have questions? Need help?
Narrowing down the market can be troubling. If you still have questions and need help, feel free to contact us at (02) 7092 8694 or send us a message here.
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