Skip to content
Identifying a target audience for your business is one of the most important things an entrepreneur can do upfront before diving in headfirst. However, one important thing to remember is that, most likely, you’re not just going to have just one type of buyer or one type of business who is interested in your company and your products. With that said, developing a marketing plan that entails a “one size fits all” mentality just isn’t going to work—you have to know your target audience and cater everything you do to that audience. Only later can you start to expand.
The following is a list of tips and suggestions for how to determine and reach your target audience, as well as the benefits that come along with putting forth the extra work to spend time in the same areas and places as your target audience. Remember, you don’t have to fit the bill of someone in your target audience; you just have to hang around them for research.
Step #1: Determine Your Target Audience
Forbes suggests starting by identifying different types of buyers, determining “who actually makes or influences the buying decisions,” and from there figuring out “what their needs and problems are, what they’re trying to achieve, what their budgets are, and how they can be successful.”
One way to do this is through target market analysis. Target market analysis can save you time and money by keeping you from creating products that people aren’t interested in buying, and/or marketing them to the wrong group of consumers. It can also help you price your products correctly and keep up with changing trends in the market.
If using this tactic doesn’t work and you’ve already tried to look through your Google Analytics data, you can consider taking a course to help you better learn about the field of market research.
Step #2: Match your products to meet the needs of your audience
This sounds like common sense, but you’d be surprised how many new business owners don’t take the time to analyze the research in order to best take advantage of this concept.
To use a concrete example, think about this scenario: If you’re opening a restaurant, do you want your niche to be fast food, comfort food, ethnic cuisine, healthy food, etc.? Think about the location where the restaurant would be located, and the population of people who live there who would most likely access that restaurant. You don’t want to open a high-end restaurant where each dish costs a small fortune in a town that is mostly blue-collar, working-class individuals with families who most likely wouldn’t have the interest or the budget to eat at that type of establishment.
The same thing applies to online start-ups. If you’re going to start an online clothing company, you need to figure out who your target audience is and then your products should appeal to that audience. If your target audience is women ages 18-25, it obviously isn’t going to make sense to have a section devoted to men’s clothing, or one with outfits that are more fit for senior women.
Step #3: Use Promotions Specifically Geared Toward Your Target Audience (Or Target Marketing)
Everybody loves scoring a discount, a good deal, or something free. That being said, even an email for a free gift will get trashed if it isn’t relevant. No business is going to thrive if they’re wasting a chunk of their marketing budget targeting a group of people who don’t have a need for their products or services. A couple of ways you can make sure you’re on the right path include:
- Generational marketing. According to Investopedia, generational marketing is “a means of segmenting the population based on various demographic and psychographic factors. It is a strategy that provides a competitive advantage among consumer products companies. This strategy has also been adopted by the financial services industry as a new technique to dig up clients.” If you understand each generation’s unique characteristics, morals, and values, you can use this information in your business plan in order to best target your intended audience.
- Cohort marketing. The small business section of Chron defines cohort marketing as “ specific experiences, events or other factors shared by a group of consumers. These cohorts are used to identify and target segments of the market that, although they may fit into other models, are more effectively grouped and treated as one.” This is a very precise type of marketing and is best suited when this specific type is warranted for your type of business, products, and audience. If you’re trying to reach a broader audience, it’s better to stick with generational or demographic targeting.
Step #4: Attracting Lenders
The U.S. Small Business Administration notes on its website that target audience data is one of the most important things lenders look at when determining which businesses they want to support. They devote a large section of their blog to the importance of identifying your target audience, and they offer several articles that suggest ideas of how to do this. It makes sense that in order to get financing for a business, especially a start-up, lenders are going to want to see data and research that show the potential for success.
The Takeaway
Hopefully, by now you understand the importance of spending not just your free time, but a significant amount of your business planning time determining who your target audience is and how you can use them to best market your business and your products. Before you can even begin marketing, identifying not only your target audience but really understanding all sides of that audience will help you succeed in the long run.
How do you know who your target audience is? What analytics sites have you found helpful? Do you have any advice for the start-up who doesn’t know how to begin determining what their niche is and who their audience should be? Contact us today and learn how we can help you!