The Importance of a Target Audience
Your target audience is, basically speaking, your potential customers. A target audience is a group of people that you address and advertise your business, products, and services to. Your target audience could be a group of people of the same age, people living in the same area, or with a similar educational background for example.
Knowing your target audience is important because you can use this information to how your website looks, what it says, where you post on social media and what you share.
Research shows that finding the right target audience can be crucial for the efficiency of your marketing campaign. A Yahoo study showed that 54% of customers preferred personalised ads because they found them more engaging, to them personally. Meanwhile, research from a McKinsey study showed that ads tailored to the needs of the client will increase the return of investment (ROI) by up to 8 times. It will also lift sales by at least 10%.
What Is A Target Audience?
A target audience is a group of people that are identified as being likely customers of a business. Target audience will tend to have something in common and share similar demographic traits. Examples of these demographic traits could be as follows.
- Age
- Gender
- Location
- Education
- Socioeconomic status
By identifying your target audience as a business, you can craft marketing strategies that have your target audience at the core. Instead of spending money and time on numerous resources where your audience might be and trying to cater to every consumer, you can define your audience. Through reaching out to your audience in a more personalised way, they will be more likely to purchase a service or product from your business.
The Importance of Knowing Your Target Audience
It’s impossible to reach everyone. So, you need to narrow your focus to a core audience. This will help you create and develop an effective marketing strategy. By knowing your target audience, you can create a marketing message that appeals directly to the type of consumers you want to convert into your target audience.
The best example of this is Facebook Ads. Facebook Ads will allow you to target users according to their age, locations, interests and more. The more targeted the ad, the cheaper the cost of the ad. This means you can save money on your marketing by knowing your target audience. You will also be able to craft a more personalised marketing message which is more likely to work too.
It’s similar for direct mail. Instead of sending direct mail to every household in the hope that someone will be interested, you can send a more personal message to people that will be interested in what you have to offer. Not only will you save money on your marketing, but you’ll get a better return on investment too. This is because the people you contact will have an interest in the products or services your business offers.
Take the time to discover who your target audience are. Think about who they are and what they’re looking for. With this information you can create a truly exciting consumer journey and marketing experience for them. Analyse what your target audience do and offer them a personalised brand experience.
Remember: building the right audience for your business is not one single activity. If you need help targeting your perfect audience, give us a call. We can discuss your business, offerings, and target audience, then the best way to approach them.
You may also find our blog on ‘Top 10 Tips to Define your Target Audience useful’ which can be found here:
http://littlemc.development-dashboard.co.uk/define-your-target-audience/
Why not check out our next workshop in April all about how to define your target audience: Identify Your Target Audience Workshop – The Little Marketing Company
