As a business owner, it's important to know who your target audience is. Without knowing who they are, you’re more likely to waste time and money by marketing your business to the wrong people.
In this post, I'll discuss how to research your target audience so that you can create an effective marketing strategy. I'll also provide tips for narrowing down your audience.
Let's do this!
Why Research Your Target Audience
Knowing your target audience makes it easier to find and reach them. Online content creators can use this knowledge to direct marketing resources towards specific demographics that are more likely to buy from them.
Knowing which demographic you’re likely to be more successful with not only helps close potential sales but also draws the right people to your brand, making you stand out among competitors!
Here’s how to do it:
Track Social Media Trends That Are Relevant to Your Target Audience
For any business, it is important to keep up-to-date with the latest trends. There are many ways you can do this. One way would be by joining conversations on social media platforms like Twitter or Instagram.
These two platforms are some of the best out there. Users often discuss topics that have recently become popular here. Following these discussions will allow your brand to stay ahead of its competitors and provide you with insight on which products will best resonate with certain audiences.
This knowledge will allow you to create engaging content and tweak products around issues you’ve identified.
Join Related Facebook Groups
Facebook is a great way to engage potential customers with discussions on different topics. Start by looking for and joining Facebook groups where your products/services would be most relevant. You can later recommend some of your products in some of your groups.
Don’t just join groups to sell though. You’ll need to carefully choose which groups to follow and participate in. Note that some groups don’t allow you to sell or promote products. This is usually mentioned in the page guidelines before you ask to be a member.
Here is a brief outline on how to get started:
Create a list of key phrases relevant to your product.
Use the Facebook search bar to find and join groups using your key phrases.
Participate in different group discussions.
Take note of which members are active in the group and follow their discussions.
Competitor Analysis: Identify Their Customers
A good way to get an idea of your target audience is by reading testimonials from your competitors’ websites. The people behind these testimonies are most likely those who received the results they wanted from your competitor and have a strong affinity with the brand.
To make this method work for you, you’ll need at least 20 names to give you enough data points for analyzing patterns between different types of customers.
Make the Most Out of Search Engines
81% of people search online. In 2021 alone, the number of online shoppers increased to 2.14 billion people. That's 27% of the world population! It's no wonder that search engines like Google and Bing have become great ways to research your target audience.
How do you know who your customers are?
You should look at the demographics of those visiting search engines. This information can help you define a demographic and use keywords relevant to each group. They’ll most likely use the same words when searching for products like yours.
Use Social Media Polls and DMs
Why not ask potential customers what they want from you? Use polls on Instagram Stories for a more engaging experience. For example, if someone thinks of something funny or loves shopping, don't be afraid to ask them. You can also utilize different types of direct messaging to easily connect to a prospective audience.
Conclusion
It's not always easy to know your target audience, but it can make a big difference in your marketing initiatives. Knowing which demographics will buy from you makes your marketing efforts more effective.
Once you’ve defined your target audience, you can further divide them into marketing personas to make your message and value proposition even more defined and specific. Audience targeting will guide you on who to sell to, what to sell your audience, when and how to sell it, and which value proposition you should emphasize.