Satisfying customers’ desires makes money for a business. It is better to know who your customers are and what they want. Analyzing your brand’s target audience can help. You can let it go and hope for the best, or you can take your time and determine who needs what you are going to sell. An analytical approach will always increase your chances.
Analyzing the target audience: general characteristics
When defining the target audience, its size and growth/decline dynamics are important. Thanks to the size, it is possible to be clearly oriented in the market capacity and volumes of real and possible sales and, accordingly, to assess the profitability of the business itself and the possibility of return on investment.
A distinction is made between primary and secondary CA (or primary and indirect). The first is the priority consumers, the instigators of a purchase. It is on them that the brand is oriented. Secondary CA to a certain extent participates in the purchase of the product, but is not a priority segment for brand communication. As an example, we can use the baby food market, which accommodates two types of CA: parents (buyers) and children (consumers). Children do not buy, but they are mostly the ones who initiate the purchase. Therefore, children are the primary audience and parents are the secondary audience. Although there are other parents/adults who enjoy consuming this type of products, they are also the secondary audience.
The target audience can be broad (consumers of bakery products) or narrow (e.g. customers of diabetic products). The broad target audience is described more vaguely, as it is more difficult to identify clear customer characteristics. Although, in reality, most companies are still focused on a broad audience, defining restrictions only by income, age and similar characteristics. Then the wide audience is divided into several smaller groups, based on the model of behavior as a consumer. For these small groups a certain product, advertising, and the entire promotion strategy is developed.
The target audience is all those who can buy the product, potential customers.
The core are those who are most likely to buy the product.
Groups – narrow associations within the same CA, which differ from each other by motives or features of behavior during the purchase or use of the product. Not required.
Defining the target audience is part of the positioning strategy. Often the selection of the target audience is made without defining a marketing strategy, in which case the plan for identifying the target consumer will be as follows:
The perfect portrait of your target audience:
- consumers who are already generating income;
- potential customers – a horizon for growth;
- The needs that are satisfied by the product.
CA parameters are taken from the consumer market distribution criteria:
When creating a portrait of the target audience, it is best to describe a typical representative of the audience. You can prepare two characteristics at once: a brief and a complete one. It is also possible to include such a paragraph – now/as it should be. This will help to determine what exactly needs to be changed for development and promotion.
There is no universal portrait of the target audience that will fit all markets. But it is possible to identify several characteristics that will make it easier to find “the right” client:
Target market of consumers: how to define
Identifying your target audience allows you to:
- Evaluate whether there is a demand for your product or service;
- Modify a product or service to better meet customer needs;
- Develop a marketing campaign that “speaks” to the right people, use the right tools to appeal to them.
To determine your target market, it’s a good idea to answer these questions first:
What sells and why is the offer unique? Why is your product better than your competitors?
Who do you want to sell to? Are you selling to parents? Retirees? Teenagers? Men? Women?
Why do people buy a product or service from you? Is your store open late so late customers can come to you? Do you offer free delivery?
Create a customer profile
People who buy your products or services have certain characteristics. The first step in identifying them is to develop a customer profile. This is essentially a detailed description of your target audience, which includes:
Age. Are your potential customers mostly millennials? Or are most of them middle-aged or retired? This is important because customers in different age groups react differently to how your product is advertised and marketed.
Gender – remember that men are from Mars and women are from Venus. Accordingly, their needs and goals are often strikingly different. But with the right approach, the target audience can be both men and women.
Income level. Knowing what income your customers have, you can adapt your marketing strategy – you can either build a flexible pricing policy or offer different products for customers of different incomes. Low-income families can be offered products or services that help them save money: discount coupons for their next purchase, reward points, promotions, discounts on second packs. And more affluent customers may respond favorably to marketing that emphasizes luxury and exclusivity.
Venue. The purchasing habits of urban residents often differ from those of people living in rural areas. For example, vegetables or fruit in the city are more sought-after products than in the countryside, where residents grow their own. Also, the target audience of a restaurant is mainly urban residents, and in rural areas it is an institution that will enjoy little popularity. A beer house, on the other hand, will be equally popular both in the city and in the countryside.
Other key characteristics of clients include: marital status, occupation, ethnicity, and hobbies and interests.
Create a complete description of the person. Marketers and business leaders do this all the time with their potential clients. Now, you can turn to KOLORO branding agency where professionals in the business – marketers – will do it for you.
The smallest details make a huge difference.
Market research
You can learn more about your target audience through primary and secondary market research. Primary research involves learning about the buying habits of customers through direct contacts such as:
Surveys help to identify existing and potential customers. Telephone surveys, e-mail, blogs, forums are used for this purpose.
Interviews – talk to people you trust, whose habits match the workings of your business. The best place to do this is at trade shows. It is enough to attract attention and ask people to answer a few short questions.
Focus groups – get feedback from a small group of consumers who fit your customer profile through group discussions.
As part of basic target audience research, you can ask customers to fill out some forms when they buy your product or service. If they do, perhaps they will openly answer questions about their age, income, and certain buying preferences. Ask them to share their information on a voluntary basis.
There are also plenty of mobile apps that can help you gather important demographic data.
Revise your sentences
Look at your products or services in a new light.
Given what you know about your target audience, ask yourself: what features and benefits do you need to attract new customers? Which ones might be less interesting or would even actively discourage new customers? This analysis can lead to valuable changes to your offering and increase the profitability of new business.
Every six months or once a year, you need to do some additional research and adjust your customer profile accordingly. As the market changes and evolves, your ideal clients may change too.
How to identify the target audience: methods
One of the biggest mistakes beginners make is wanting to appeal to everyone. Think back to the game of darts: you should aim to hit the bullseye. If you hit another part of the board – the number of points is much lower.
We encounter the concept of target audience from early childhood without realizing it: being sent out for a walk, for example. You knew that you needed the permission of both parents (if dad allowed it, then mom also agrees), for this you adjusted to the target audience, for example, mom, waiting for the moment when she was in a good mood. And she was already talking Daddy into letting you go.
It is impossible to please everyone. It is better to invest money, effort and time not in trying to reach everyone, but in identifying your target audience and developing your brand.
Targeting helps you focus on a specific group of consumers, improve your product or service, and sell where they are sure to buy.
When starting a business from scratch, you need to understand what your audience needs, get to know your potential customers, and understand what they need. To do this, you don’t need to use your own experience; it is better to use telephone surveys, discussions in social networks, groups, blogs, forums.
Once you know your audience, you need to clearly define your offer based on demand and focus on what you can sell very quickly. For this purpose, social networks, blogs, forums, email newsletters – all those tools that will bring potential customers to the product or service and attract more buyers – are again called upon to help.
How to identify the target audience: the Antonidas and Van Raai method
A method for describing the target customer was proposed by two Dutchmen, Gerrit Antonidas and Fred Van Raai, who divided all characteristics into three levels:
- General;
- product group level;
- brand level.
General level
The first level, the general level, helps to create a portrait of a typical customer. The following criteria are used: geographic, demographic, social, psychological. Thanks to this level it is possible to make a clear portrait of the customer: age, views, social activity, living conditions.
Product group
The second level describes the behavioral characteristic of the customer, i.e. this level helps to determine the differences between your CA and the CA of a neighboring store. Characteristics that speed up identification: frequency of use/purchase, size preferences, location/volumes of purchases.
Brand level
At the last level, the target audience is described thanks to such parameters: familiarity with products and brand, level of loyalty, opinion about the brand.
How to identify the target audience: the product-market method
Another method to determine the CA: focus on the product that is being sold or the size of the market in which it is being sold. For both cases, you need to characterize the customer in such categories:
If the determination is product-based, where, for example, it is impossible or very difficult to change product characteristics, then the following steps are worth taking:
- Analyze the product in detail, identifying the key features of the product (price, design, place of sale, distinctive features);
- analyzing customers through a survey (why this particular product, how it differs from competitors);
- SWOT analysis helps to identify strengths and weaknesses;
- conducting market segmentation: those who are buying now, those who could buy, those who won’t;
- make a plan for improvement.
If the definition of CA is due to the development of a new market, then you can rely on such a plan:
- Market research and segmentation;
- attractive niches in terms of profits and operating principles;
- likely consumers;
- planning to work with the selected market.
Target Audience Portrait: Summary
When starting a business, you need to know clearly not only what you will be selling/offering, but also to whom. Armed with more information, you can make better decisions about where to advertise (where these people hang out) and how to talk to customers (using language they understand). Identifying your target market is the hardest part of running a business. Once you know who you are targeting, it will be easier to determine the media you can use to communicate with the consumer and how to market your products in general.
And how to determine your target audience knows branding agency KOLORO – a creative team of marketing professionals who will conduct desk research and prompt the nuances of positioning.
