The target audience… An often discussed topic, a tabu’, for some – a nightmare. It’s more important than you think and it also can be found easier than you imagine. Here’s my post on how to find your target audience and why it’s important.

What is a target audience?

A target audience is the intended audience or readership of a publication, advertisement, or another message. In marketing and advertising, it is a particular group of consumers within the predetermined target market, identified as the targets or recipients for a particular advertisement or message. Businesses that have a wide target market will focus on a specific target audience for certain messages to send.

Source: Kotler, Philip; Armstrong, Gary (2005). Marketing: An Introduction. 

Why is it important?

You have to know your target audience to know who you’re talking to!

We don’t live in the era of mass marketing anymore when you could just buy ads and they would turn into sales. The world has changed. So your attitude towards marketing should.

If you’re designing hoodies, don’t promote to office workers. Seems logical, but it’s not. Don’t try telling me: “But maybe they like to dress hoodies after hours?”. Sure, they might. But who do you think is more likely to buy from you: skateboarders and fitness fans or office workers? Who is it better to talk to? Remember: choosing one niche doesn’t mean nobody else can buy from you. Those office workers may buy from you too. But the conversions from this group will be much smaller than from the other potential groups. That’s why you should focus on your target audience and start speaking their language.

How to find your target audience?

1. Ideal client

The easiest way to find your target audience is to look at your existing clients and define with whom it was the easiest to work with and who fits your brand perfectly. On this basis, you can build a profile of a person to whom you should be talking and every time you create any promotional content, you can do it having that particular person in mind.

2. Think

What if you don’t have a big group of clients or you’re just starting out and you don’t have any? In such a case, think about the message of your brand and for whom it might be important. Try to be specific: “middle-aged women” is too generic. Try to specify their job profile, their hobbies, where they like to spend their free time, etc. Create an avatar of your ideal client, by giving them a name and describing exactly all the things mentioned above. This way you’ll get a much clearer idea of you’re talking to.

3. Instagram

Instagram can be extremely helpful in specifying your target audience. Check out profiles of other brands and services who have a similar style to yours or who talk to the same audience and check who follows them. If you find a person that is a perfect fit for you, another great way to learn more about your ideal client is checking other suggested, similar accounts. This way you get a broader picture of the group and you can specify their need better.

4. Audience insights

Audience Insights is a tool created by Facebook to help you in targeting Facebook Ads, but you can use it simply to get to know your audience better. You can check who follows the accounts of your competitors, see their hobbies, preferences, other pages they like, places they like to visit, etc. It’s a really powerful tool.

5. Refine as you go

Don’t worry if at the beginning you feel a bit like a child lost in the fog. It’s normal. Start researching, experiment and refine as you go. The most important thing is to start and be aware of what you still have to find out.

Do you know any other ways to find your target audience? Share them in the comments!