10 Ways to know your Target Audience

1.      Question your assumptions.

This is the first step to help you define your target audience. So do not assume anything. Let’s say you have decided that your audience is middle aged married men. Ask yourself, why? You might have even proceeded further by coming up with strategies of ways of targeting them and kind of messages that might appeal to them. However if you don’t have more concrete evidence other than just this, then you are better off letting go of this idea.

2.      Be a copycat. Picasso had said” Good artists copy, great artists steal”

Yes. You read it right. The first mover advantage is long gone. If you see the pioneers in any business are not doing as good as the businesses that have entered the market later. So go through their data, learn from their mistakes, read the strategy that they followed and where they flawed. See what improvement you can do in their no doing so well business model or failed business model. Nowadays data is easily available so this shouldn’t be that difficult a task. And remember to use most recent and relevant data.

3.      Create a character.

Once you have accumulated all data with regards to your business and its target audience, give your target audience a face. Like a person a fictional character based on the age, gender, education, income and disposition factors like sensitivity and curiosity. So you know who he is and how he will react to your marketing strategy and product.

4.      Collect quantifiable data.

Unlike market research mentioned earlier here you need to get down to ground level. Collect data directly from the people who resemble your fictional character. Ask them close and open ended questions which will give you usable and implementable answers. Why they use this product or service. What can make them use another brand other than what they have been using since years? How important is this brand to them? Etc.

5.      Have quality data.

Like mentioned earlier while creating a character, we need to know the emotional side of the audience too. That will give you insights of how your audience thinks and will surely help you in content marketing. Use open ended questions which might lead to long but yes usable answers. Like, What are your thoughts about the current economic status of our country? Or What is your favorite holiday destination?

6.      Look out for competition.

Mostly you might have a competitor with similar brand targeting the same kind of audience. See what kind of content they use to lure their audience, what channels they use and how they position their product or services. Here you need not necessarily copy them but definitely learn from them.

7.      Look for similar products and services.

Now apart from your product your target audience is definitely using other products unrelated to yours. Like you are selling soap but they are also using shoes. So look out for the brands they buy and look for the strategy and content those companies are using to impress them. Implement that kind of look and feel in your brand. Remember Picasso here???

8.      Grapevine Communication.

Yes I know many of you feel this can’t be used. But trust me this is the most honest and candid information you will get to use. In public places keep eyes and ears open, find out what are people are talking about. Example: I had decided not to watch a movie because the title of the movie gave me a different picture. But then I heard a very good friend with good sense of movies talk about it on social media, and I went to see it. It was a great movie.

9.      Measure digital interactions.

With advance of technology and social media, you have all the tools to measure your brand popularity. When you put up a blog post or a post on social media see how you audience reacts to it and what they have to say about it.  Basically how they talk about your brand. How many comments are there on your posts, use Google Analytics to know how many people are engaging with your brand.

10.  Have some breathing space.

Now that you know yourself that you are in contemplating or testing phase you shouldn’t go all guns fired and also not use all your resources and not have a hardline strategy which cannot be tweaked in between stages.  Because the same audience keeps changing and so do their preferences. So always have room for changes with time. So keep looking out for relevant information and changing trends in the market and change your strategy accordingly.