4 Easy Ways To Identify Your Target Audience

Before you spend time crafting the perfect content on your business’s digital platforms, it’s important to know WHO you’re targeting first. If you want to really grow your business, you want to make sure you're creating content for the RIGHT right people. You don’t want to try to reach everyone, actually, you want to try to target a very specific type of person for a few reasons.

Identifying your target audience enables you to create content that will:

Increase engagement across your social platforms.

Gain more website traffic

Grow your community/following

Increase sales conversions

First things first, identifying your audience isn't a quick,” one time you're done” process. This process actually will take some real-time and work, as your target customer will always change as your brand grows. You will always need to analyze who your customers are and how to communicate with them. This will help you create the best content possible for your business.

Now, defining your target market is more than just identifying their age, gender, and demographic. You have to really dive deep into your audience and understand what gets them going, what excites them, and what motivates them to take the next step with your business. Pretty overwhelming right? No worries, in this article I'll discuss four simple steps to help you identify your target audience. So if you’re an entrepreneur, or running a small business this blog is written with you in mind.

You can always reference this as a framework to help you as you grow your business & following to help you stay on track.

1. Do Your Research

This part is what a lot of my fellow entrepreneurs miss. You need to do your part and do some in-depth market research to understand who your ideal customer is. The best thing to do in the process is to look at your competitors. Write down a few larger companies in your industry that may have a similar business model as you. Visit their websites, social media pages and look at online reviews. Dive deep into the types of people that engage with these businesses. Although this may sound a little creepy, visit the profiles of the accounts that engage with them and see what you can learn. What types of things are they interested in? This is all information that is helpful to cultivate content that would actually resonate with them.

2. Buyer Persona

This is actually one of my favorite things to do when working with clients. This process involves creating a list of attributes your ideal client/customer would have. Below is a template you can use as an example:

As you can see, you have to dive deep when working on creating a buyer profile. Really zoning in on who your customers are, sets you up for success. You’ll create products, services, and products that will mean something to them and gain their trust & loyalty. Understanding them and what motivates them to buy, is where you earn their dollar.

3. Analyze Your Statistics

Social media stats can be a bit confusing but are very helpful. Looking at these numbers can let you know if the content you’re producing is actually working. You’ll get a good idea of what works and what does not, based on the engagement you receive. These statistics will also give you a good idea of who your current followers are as well. On many social platforms, with a business profile, you can see the region, age-range, and also even the gender of your following. Things like insights, and interactions (likes, shares, comments) can give you a pretty good idea of what content your followers enjoy most and what resonates with them. Numbers tell a story if you dive deep enough into it.

4. Seek Feedback!

One thing I don't see many entrepreneurs doing today is taking the time to ask questions, as well as consider your follower's insight. Now, as a business owner, I understand having a vision, but also recognize WHO you’re doing it for. You have to ask questions to understand what your audience wants to see or hear from you. This is the best way to get a better idea of who they are, and also make them feel valued. Every customer/client likes to feel that their dollar is appreciated. You build relationships this way and can gain loyal customers.

So there you have it, 4 simple and effective ways to help you identify your brand’s target audience. These tips will help you be able to dive deep into understanding who your customers are, so you can better connect with them. Having a strong consumer base with loyal customers is the key to increasing sales. Your loyal customers will continue to shop or book with you, as well as, spread the word about your brand/business that they love so much. If you’re looking for guidance on how to better brand your business so you can connect with your target audience, book a consultation with me today!