I’m lucky enough to work with a number of businesses, large and small, on their branding and marketing needs and a key issue with a number of these businesses is not knowing their target audience.
For me, knowing your market is key to a successful business (having a brilliant product / service helps too, mind) as knowing your customer and how to talk to them is the key to success. We have all seen bigger brands lose their way when they suddenly decide to change tack and alienate their loyal audience as it shows that, sadly, they don’t know or respect their audience which can be the beginning of the end.
Here are a few tips to help you define your audience
Build a customer profile
Be specific and give your ideal customer a name, age, sex, occupation. Who is he / she? Look at your current customer, who is engaging with your brand already?
Once you know him / her – what are their habits?
With your customer defined, it’s time to look at their habits.
- Where do they go?
- What do they do?
- Where do they hangout?
- What do they read?
- What groups do they belong to?
- Who is their tribe?
- Who are their influencers?
Really look at where this type of customer is and this will determine how you speak to them and how you build your marketing strategy.