| | | | Information and Resources for Your Business and Life | | | | Inspiration, Tools & Tips! MAY 2023 | | | | Who Is Your Target Audience
Understanding target audiences is key to the success of any marketing campaign because consumers will feel as if they connect with your brand. | | | |  June
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Did you take the time to determine if you were the support you thought you were. I hope so because this month we are talking about your target audience. If you don’t have a handle on how you present yourself marketing will truly be difficult for you.
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Your target audience is the demographic of people who are most likely to buy or be interested in your products or services or who are simply interested in you for your skills and talents. This is the group of people you/your company should direct specific advertisements or messages to. When identifying your target audience, examine a range of angles and distinctive characteristics in people. For example, consider the following demographics as a starting point:
• Age
• Gender
• Location
• Occupation
• Martial status
• Income level
• Education level
• Hobbies
• Personal fears and desires
Those are just broad and mostly generic audience variations that you can start with. Inside each group or across multiple broader categories, you can and should look for specific and sometimes unique combinations of audience factors. Finding these will help you define the ideal blend of personal or professional characteristics and human interests that you can use for your target audience’s marketing. The subcategories can be extremely varied and might tie into other broad categories based on income level, gender, location, occupation and other characteristics.
Your best technique for defining your target audience starts with what service/product you offer. You should carefully consider what needs and benefits you might fulfill and also what pain point you can solve. Once you know this, brainstorm who might need what you are offering. This will be a target audience. There might even be more than one type of demographic or personal and professional interest category you can cater to.
Now, here’s a tricky part: Sometimes, your target audience doesn’t know that what you are offering solves their problem or need. You may be sure that it’s an ideal solution, but you have to convince them too. That’s why knowing your audience’s specific traits and needs is so important. It helps you craft the appeal you need to meet their needs and deliver personal benefits.
The importance of identifying a target audience
Knowing your target audience is extremely important for effective marketing. The way you reach different audiences changes based on their behaviors and preferences, so you should be ready to redefine your marketing strategy as needed.
Tips for identifying your target audience.
• Talk to strangers: Rather than consulting family and friends, try to reach out to new people to have an unbiased look at the market.
• Revisit your research: You may find that your target audience’s attitudes or behaviors change. It’s useful to continue to learn what appeals to them.
• Be nuanced: Instead of relying on stereotypes, take time to learn what actually appeals to your audience. Find ways to represent these requirements authentically.
• Use surveys, questionnaires and content marketing: If you really want to find out what pain points, interests and needs people have, it’s important to communicate with them directly.
When you promote yourself/your product, use this information to back your marketing up with digital content that talks about unique situations and relatable problems. You can use social media and your own blogging platform for marketing. The comment feedback you generate can give you a tremendous advantage for targeting. You can also ask the followers you generate to complete surveys or questionnaires about what interests them.
How do you determine your target audience?
One way to determine your target audience is through market research. For instance, surveys are a useful strategy to get customers to provide their demographic information. You could also use the following strategies to gather information:
• Focus groups: Have a group discussion with people who represent your ideal customer.
• Face-to-face interviews: Talk to individuals to learn more about their buying habits and what types of marketing influence them.
• Competitor analysis: Learn what people are interested in your direct competitors.
What’s the difference between a target audience and target marketing?
Your target audience is the specific group of customers you want to reach with your advertisements. Target marketing happens when you choose the specific people from your target audience you want to market to. You specifically tailor your campaign toward that subgroup.
Criticism of Target Audiences
One drawback of a target audience is that companies may become so narrow-focused on the defined target audience, they overlook or disregard other potential consumers. Even well-researched target audiences may mistakenly exclude people who are interested in you/your product or service. It’s important to use target audiences as baselines, not the end-all. As your product and service offerings expand, it’s essential to reevaluate your target audience regularly.
Check out the freebies this month. Use them to help you. | | | | Business, Ministry, & Personal Application
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Business Application
If you’re trying to please everyone, you’re pleasing no one. Right? It’s also true for your marketing: If you’re trying to reach everyone, you’re going to reach no one. People might see your ad or take a look at your website. But your ad and your message won’t resonate
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Ministry Application
Because a church is a business there are a lot of business practices that churches should do in order to be effective from a business standpoint. However, when it comes to marketing (evangelism), you don’t pick and choose. God does.
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Personal Application
In childhood, we exhibited an innate understanding of target audiences by asking one parent for a treat, knowing the other would refuse. We chose the one most likely to say yes because it’s the easiest way to get what we wanted.
Though this example is
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FREEBIES
Here are this month’s free business, ministry and personal tools:
* How to Outline Your Career Goals and Objectives Accepting change is a crucial element to succeed. Developing a short- and long-term blueprint for achieving your career goals and objectives is necessary. A benefit is you will identify the people who are a part of your target audience.
If you need any help with any of these resources please contact me. | | | | FEATURED COMPANY/CLIENT REVIEW | |
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Please click here. You will find a list of business review sites. Click the name of the site where you want to leave a review. You can place your review on one or as many as you like. Each review will help me so much, so I am thanking you in advance. If you want to leave a review for a site that is not listed, please contact me and let me know which site. | | | | Target audiences help you advertise more efficiently because you know who you want to reach and how to reach them. Directly reaching those interested in you and/or your product or service will ultimately put more money in your pocket. Therefore, before you decide what your message is and how to deliver it, you need to understand who will be receiving it. If you have questions or need any assistance, email us. You can also call us @ 904-830-0737. You can also set up a free consultation. (Please toggle "Business Consultation")
| | | | | | “If you want to create messages that resonate with your audience, you need to know what they care about.” - Nate Elliot | | | | MORE From Business Development
with anyone if you don’t have a specific audience in mind. Here are some more examples of target audiences: - Assisted living facility
- Target market: Senior citizens
- Target audience: Seniors in the New England area
- Moving company
- Target market: People who are moving.
- Target audience #1: Urban apartment dwellers.
- Target audience #2: Suburban families.
And on an even deeper level, you’re going to have mini target audiences for every campaign you create. In fact, HubSpot found that most marketers create content for multiple audiences, with three target audiences being the most common.
Why do you need a target audience? With those examples, you can see why knowing your target audience is so important. It’s the context you need in order to come up with content and messaging that resonates. The ad a senior living facility creates for seniors themselves is going to differ greatly from the one it creates for adult caregivers of their senior parents.
Types of target audiences Your business can have a bunch of different target audiences, since these will align with the focus of your marketing efforts and your goals. In some marketing campaigns, you might get super-specific. If you run a landscaping business, for example, that could mean focusing on all your customers in one town with one event or discount to improve your customer base in that one area. As you figure out who your target audiences are, make sure to zero in on the types that align with the marketing channels you regularly use. Here are some examples: - Email: You might have a newsletter with tips that targets your general target audience, nurture email flows that target leads, and/or trigger emails aimed at current customers.
- Event: You might host an event for an entire community, like in the landscaping company example above, or instead one that caters to potential customers. You could even throw an event for current customers or prospective partners.
- Community: You might run a slack or Discord group that connects prospective customers in similar roles, or a similar community that connects customers using your product.
- Ad: You could run Facebook Ads encouraging return customers, Google Ads targeted at prospects searching for a solution, or Instagram shopping ads targeting your competitor’s customers.
- Social media: You might share a thought leadership piece aimed at influencers who would share it, a how-to video for your potential customers, or you could host a series of interviews with figures notable for your audience—whether those are authors, celebrities, or experts.
How to find your target audience If you’re not incredibly clear about who your target audience is, you need to take a step back to identify it. You can determine who your target audience is by looking at who is engaging with your product, your brand, and your marketing. Here’s how:
1. Interview your customers. Your customers are the people who are using your product or service, so clearly, the positioning of your offering, the solution you presented, your marketing, or a combination of these worked. That’s why this is the perfect place to start. * First, look at the demographics of your customers—what are their job titles, where do they live, how old are they? Are there any patterns that emerge as you do so? Pay careful attention to patterns with your loyal, repeat customers. Then see if there are patterns in your onetime customers. * Next, it’s time to talk to your customers. This is the best way to get an idea of why they love your brand, your product, or team. That’ll help you with your positioning, including the benefits you’ll highlight in your copywriting and conversations. Plus, it’s a great time to ask where your customers are spending their time and getting advice. Questions related to problems/pain points:
- What was the problem you were trying to solve?
- How were you solving/attempting to solve the problem prior to us?
- If you used other vendors in the past, what issues did you run into with them?
- Did you have any hesitations in choosing us?
- Is there anything we can do to improve?
Questions related to lifestyle/behavior:
- How did you find out about us?
- What terms did you search?
- What media/newsletters do you read related to this topic?
- What social media platforms do you use?
- How much time do you spend online?
Questions related to your competitors:
- What made you choose us over competitors?
- What is the primary benefit of our product/service?
- What additional benefits have you experienced?
- What do you like about us?
2. Audit your social following. Your social followers are another existing audience that you can look at to see who your current marketing is appealing to. Even more, it gives you an idea of the consumers genuinely interested in your brand. According to Sprout Social, the most common reasons people follow brands on social channels are to get access to discounts, to keep up with company news, and to find out about new products or services. You won’t have the same access to your social followers as your customers. If you still want to do an interview, make sure it’s a quick survey with super specific questions. Otherwise, focus on demographics and behavior. Here are some things to consider: - Location
- Age
- Career
- Household income
- Activity level
- Other brand followings
Again, you want to pay special attention to the people engaging more with your social profiles. The good news is that you can use a tool—even a free tool—to analyze this data. Buffer, for example, also offers a free tier. 3. Review your marketing performance metrics. The next existing audience you need to take some time to dig into is your website visitors. Who is reading your content already? Who is downloading your whitepapers? Who is engaging with your videos? Google Analytics is the natural place to start when you’re looking for this type of information. You can learn:
- Demographics. See how your users break down by location, including country and city.
- Where users are coming from. Is Twitter a big referral source? Is it a niche industry news site? A certain blogger? This gives you more information about where to target your marketing campaigns.
- Which topics resonate with them? What is and isn’t of interest to your website visitors can provide clues about who your target audience is and how to appeal to them.
- What terms they’re searching? Find out what they’re looking up in Google that is leading them to your site.
There’s even an Interests tab where you can look at affinity categories and in-market segments. 4. Take notes on your competition. You have competitors. Regardless of your product, your offering, and target audience, you have competition. And you can use them. Look at who your competitor is targeting in their marketing. Where are they advertising: Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter? Who are they addressing in their ads? What problem are they addressing? Analyze their ads, their messaging, and their brand to put together a target audience and see how it compares with yours—including how it overlaps and how it differs. That’ll help you better articulate your brand’s differentiation. In addition to the audiences your competitors are targeting, you want to know which of those audiences is actively engaging with its content. Delve into its social following to identify the overlap and the difference similarly. 5. Define who your target isn’t. You need to identify who your customer isn’t. For this step, look at all of your information—your customer interviews, your social following, your website visitors, and your competition’s comparable audiences. Then identify the gaps that you definitely don’t serve.
- Are you a pet store that doesn’t stock reptile tanks? Your target audience does not include iguana owners.
- Are you selling boozy milkshakes? You’re not trying to target anyone under 21.
- Can you only serve US customers? Then your target audience is not anyone operating outside of those bounds.
Setting your parameters will help guide your marketing—and even your business strategy.
Creating your target audience profile After you’ve gathered all the data about your followers, about your customers, and all the details from your competition, the final step is to put it together in a target audience profile. Here’s some information to include:
- Location
- Age
- Gender identification
- Job title
- Industry
- Education level
- Household income
- Interests
- Hobbies
- Platform usage
Your target audience profile will include specifics that are relevant to your brand, too.
| | | | MORE From Ministry Development
Praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added [a]to the church daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2:47, NKJV)
If your church/ministry has created a target audience you are marketing to you should stop. For many years, church growth experts taught pastors how to do ministry by demographic groups. Decide the type of person your church is targeting, then design everything you do to reach that kind of person. There were a lot of big churches built that way and a lot of small churches that died trying to do it that way. Ministering to people as members of a demographic group was not how the church was designed. “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.”17 And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. (Revelation 22:16-17, NKJV)
Seeing people primarily (or only) as members of a group may be a great way to attract a crowd, but it’s never a good way to disciple them. And discipleship is what we’re called to do. Go [a] therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (Matthew 28:19 , NKJV)
If your church/ministry is still trying to reach people by appealing to a specific demographic, it’s time to stop. 1. When we do ministry by demographics, we start by asking the wrong questions. Instead of beginning with “what is God’s plan for this church?” we’re asking:“ * What does this type of person want from a church?” When a church tries to fulfill other people’s expectations, it’s backwards and idolatrous. * Or worse, what can this type of person do for the church/ministry. When a church only wants those who can benefit the church, it misrepresents the love of God. 2. The church has to start by asking “what does Jesus want?” then ask how that applies, not to a demographic group, but to individuals with names, needs, histories and values. 3. Consider the average person coming to your church/ministry–or one that we’d like to see come. How can we possibly categorize them without diminishing them? We can’t. Therefore, we shouldn’t. 4. There’s no church that can suit everyone. There is not one church that even suits everyone in a specific group, no matter how tightly or accurately you define that group. Nor should that be a focus. 5. If everyone in your church looks the same, votes the same, makes a similar amount of money, or comes from the same background, something is wrong. Any church that is too narrowly defined by any identity other than Jesus will soon make that identity more important than Jesus. The church is about creating a community that includes all demographic backgrounds. This was so in the early church.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is [a]neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ( Galatians 3:28, NASB 1995 )
It will also be true in heaven (Rev 7:9).
After these things I looked, and this is what I saw: a vast multitude which no one could count, [gathered] from every nation and from all the tribes and peoples and languages [of the earth], standing before the throne and before the Lamb (Christ), dressed in white robes, with [a]palm branches in their hands; (Revelation 7:9, AMP)
It needs to be true of us today.
No church can do everything or reach everyone. That’s why there are so many types, styles and sizes of churches available. But the desire should be as Paul instructed: 19 For although I am free in every way from anyone’s control, I have made myself a bond servant to everyone, so that I might gain the more [for Christ]. 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to men under the Law, [I became] as one under the Law, though not myself being under the Law, that I might win those under the Law. 21 To those without (outside) law I became as one without law, not that I am without the law of God and lawless toward Him, but that I am [especially keeping] within and committed to the law of Christ, that I might win those who are without law. 22 To the weak (wanting in discernment) I have become weak (wanting in discernment) that I might win the weak and overscrupulous. I have [in short] become all things to all men, that I might by all means (at all costs and in any and every way) save some [by winning them to faith in Jesus Christ]. 23 And I do this for the sake of the good news (the Gospel), in order that I may become a participator in it and share in its [blessings along with you]. (1 Corinthians 9:19-23, AMP, Classic Edition )
It’s perfectly fine to narrow the type of ministry your church does. In fact, it’s helpful. Don’t target people. Target your strengths, your calling, your mission, and the vision God has given you. Then the Lord will add those to the church He has placed you over who need what He has placed in you. | | | | MORE From Personal Development
simple, pinpointing a target audience applies not only to every type of business, it also applies to us individually. From a personal perspective, we are looking to build relationships when we identify our target audience.
Before you can identify your target audience, you need to know who you are and what you bring to the table. What is your personal brand? Your personal brand is a concise, compelling way of communicating who you are and what you have to offer. Whether you realize it or not, you are creating your brand by who you connect to (birds of a feather flock together). Look at this list and you will see who you are. Who do are the people you share your life with, interact with regularly, etc. Pull from this list: - Your friends and family around the world
- Your spouse’s close friends, family, and coworkers
- Your neighbors
- The people in your church congregation
- Professional people in your life
- My doctors, dentist, and optometrist
- Staff at the stores where I shop and restaurants where I eat
Once you are clear, you can build your target audience. If you were building a presence from scratch today, there are some things would you should consider in order to connect with the people who could help you in your career, recommend you for a job, put yourself in position to get the next promotion, etc. Focus on establishing a crystal-clear empathy with the audience you want to be a part of. Understand who they are, what they are trying to accomplish, and what type of people are already in their circles. A great way to learn these things is in person, over the phone or if all else fails via monitoring discussions in groups, blog comments, forums and social media. However, before you do that, you need to understand your audience. Studies have shown that human connection is essential for well-being and happiness. Without people, even vast wealth does not equal contentment. The age-old adage, “You Get What You Give,” rings true in both personal and professional relationships. While it’s natural to prioritize ourselves and our families, it’s crucial to offer support and value to those we wish to connect with. There are basically three people who fit into your personal target audience: - The person who pays you
- The person who influences the person who pays you
- Your supporters
It doesn’t matter which category you’re going to address, you basically have to complete the same steps with some nuances. Step One: Identify Who The Person Is If you have not outlined your career goals, please use the link in the freebie section. If you have, you know that the steps along that path will have people who will either directly or indirectly influence the speed at which you answer from level to level and the height you can reach. Identify the person who is in charge of the next step in your career.
- If it is the person who pays you or your supporters:
It could be a specific person who you have in mind, or it could be the vision of a person. If it is a real person, look at his/her social media profile. If it’s not a real person, you can identify a handful of people that fit your description and look at their social media profiles.
- If it is the person who influences the person who pays you:
Look for online publications that have readership demographics that match your him/her. Professionals usually have industry magazines and websites that they follow and subscribe to. The writers on these sites hold significant influence over your target, but also pay attention to the people included in the articles. Industry publications often contain quotes, interviews and mentions of people in the industry, including business owners, managers, consultants and others. These could also be influencers.
Step Two: Create A Complete Description Use this step for all three categories. Human resource managers create descriptions of the persons they want to hire. They put comprehensive descriptions together to create detailed, vivid images of the exact person their companies want to hire. Now, you will do the same. Open a document and start writing the description. Include things like: - Name (if you know who the person is)
- Age
- Gender
- Job Description
- Hobbies
- Etc.
Go into extreme detail. Talk about the daily tasks the person does at their job. Talk about what they do on the weekends with their family and friends. The more details you can include the easier it will be for you to target this person as you implement your personal strategy. Go as far as including a photo of the person. If it’s a real person, find their photo. If it’s not a real person, find a photo online that fits your vision and include it in the profile.
Step Three: Understand Their Motivations (Professional And Personal) Use this step for all three categories. As you build the profile of your target audience, you’ll get inside their head and figure out their motivations. This is important because, when you know what this person’s motivations are, you can understand if they are really the person you want to connect with. You can also identify if there is a way you both can help each other. Step Four: Create a Contact Plan - If it is the person who pays you and/or your supporters:
These people are already in contact with you. You don’t really need a plan; you just need an appointment or an impromptu meeting.
- If it is the person who influences the person who pays you:
Once you understand who these people are and where they are online, you can put together your contact plan. This will be your way of connecting with them and help them with the things that motivate them. You would go past the basics of connecting on social media like LinkedIn and Twitter. You would also include following any blogs they write or contribute to and comment on the articles. Make yourself visible to her/him. The next step is to get more assertive with the way you reach out to make connections. Start using contact forms and emails to reach out and connect. You’re looking to build a relationship with them so you can be top of mind when they’re influencing the person who you want to pay you. Step Five: Identify Potential Opportunities Use this step for all three categories. Once you know what motivates your target audience, it’s time to plan ways to help them achieve their goals, thus helping yourself achieve your own goals. You can do this on your own, but another way to find opportunities is to go to your target audience and have a conversation with them. This conversation will bring opportunities to light and you’ll know exactly what you can work on to achieve results. Step Six: Create A Game Plan - If it is the person who pays you or the person who influences the person who pays you:
Once you have identified what you need to do, put together a game plan for taking the opportunities and achieving results. Look at the way others have done things before you. There is no reason to recreate the wheel. Look for examples within your company. Look for examples outside your company. Take the things others have done to achieve results. See if there is room for any improvements. Then take each step to achieve the desired results. - If it is your supporters:
o Let Them Know Your Goals Next, once you have a handful of people on your support team you tell them what your goals are.. Share your plan with your support team so they can see your vision. Ask them for feedback on your goals. Some might question parts of your plan and that’s good. The purpose of the team is to challenge you and to provide different perspectives on what you’re trying to accomplish. o Provide Regular Updates Set a time to give updates to your support team. Monthly might be good for those closest to you, but it might be much for those that are less close. Quarterly or even every six months is good to keep your supporters updated. § You want to tell them how your progress is going. Tell them the specific things you’re working on and how it’s going to contribute to achieving your professional goals. § The updates will also keep you motivated. You can motivate yourself to do well and you probably do. However, it’s good to feel you have other people genuinely interested in your success. Providing the updates gives you an added incentive to keep moving forward, keep working toward your goals, and keep making steps along the way.
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