Who is my target audience?

It can be fairly cumbersome to tackle a marketing strategy and then maintain full attention while running a business. Today, in a world of thousands of resources there are so many facets and media channels to distribute your messaging through. The common questions we find ourselves asking is, “How do I reach the people who want my service or product and how do I know what works?”

Your target audience is a group of people made up of current and potential customers who may be interested in your product or service. It is important to identify your “niche audience”. Although we would like everyone to be interested in our product or service, that is a very large challenge to tackle and does not produce an immediate ROI (return on investment).

We suggest breaking the audiences into tiers. The first tier is the group of people who have received a product or service from your business (your current customer base). Don’t forget about the low hanging fruit. If someone has expressed interest or purchased a product or service from you before and were satisfied, they are much more likely to do business with you again or refer you to a friend.  If you have the resources available, pull a report of your clientele and create a list of customers who have communicated with your business that may be interested in doing business with you again. Based on your industry and the service or product you provide, it will determine the time frame that is appropriate to reconnect. Set time aside to call and/or email these contacts.

The second tier is people who are actively looking for your service or product right now and have not connected with you before. This is when it is important to understand who your “niche market” is and where they look for referrals. Does your business primarily appeal to an older market? Does your target audience gather most of their information from online or offline resources? Does your product or service cater more to male, female or both? Is there a household income associated with your target market? What kind of target radius have you identified for your business, 5, 10, 50+ miles? These questions will help you determine which marketing distribution channels are best for your business. Once you have identified this, create a strategy to distribute your messaging to them through these selected channels. Create promo codes, check your Google analytics (if you have it set-up), set vanity URL’s and phone numbers so you are able to track success of your efforts. There is nothing worse then being unsure which marketing efforts were successful.

Tier three is the people who have not done business with you before and may not be in the market today for your product or service. These people are one of the reasons having a strong brand awareness is imperative. I may not be in the market for auto repair, senior home living or a luxurious vacation spot today but I could be interested in the future. Building your brand awareness so people associate needs with your name allows your customer base to grow naturally with your marketing efforts.