When you first get started online. The Internet just seems big. The idea of firing up your laptop to find your target audience and then getting them to stop by for a visit may sound like crazy talk.
What's frustrating is that you know your target audience really needs your products or services but you can't help them because you can't find them and they don't know you exist.
In this article, we're going to help you fine-tune your marketing and improve your tracking skills to find customers online.
Questions to Find Your Target Audience
The first thing you need to establish is who's in your target audience. It's called a target audience for a reason.
No target. No audience.
If you've been in business for a while, you have bit of a head start. You can find your target audience by taking a good look at your current clients. We're going to look at them a little differently than how you've looked at them in the past.
Whether you realize it or not, you're a problem solver. Your products and services solve problems for your current customers.
If you understand your current customers and their particular preferences, you have important keys to fine tune your outreach and find your target audience. It's time to hop into the lab and check out demographics and psychographics.
Demographics
These are facts concerning your clients both existing and prospective that can help you to identify them deeper. They include:
- Age
- Gender
- Geographical location
- Educational levels
- Income levels
- Marital status
- Employment and industry
With these basic pieces of information about your current clients, you can identify similar traits your target audience is likely to have.
Psychographics
Knowing who your target audience is is half the battle. The other half is defining their interests and preferences. For instance, if you manage a gym, your patrons are most likely interested in:
- Health
- Fitness
- Weight loss
- Running
Over and above these, you may also consider the pop culture interests. If you own a boutique, you may also target persons who watch the fashion shows like Rihanna's Savage X Fenty on Amazon or ‘Project Runway’ on Bravo.
Because you have current clients, you don't need to guess. You can ask them directly, present them with a survey or send them to an online quiz.
Benefits/Problem Solving
The on point to keep at the front of your mind through all of this is that you are a problem solver. What are the problems your services helps with or the potential benefits that it provides to the persons who are likely to purchase it. Below are some of the questions you may have to ask yourself:
- What sorts of people may face the issues my service solves?
- What answers are they looking for?
- Why do they need these answers?
- What are their major pain points?
- What do I provide that is distinct from my competitors?
By asking these questions, it may be possible for you to fine-tune your audience’s psychographic and demographic requirements. By the time you have exhausted all the three categories here, you ought to have a firm idea of who your target audience might be.
Tools to Find Your Target Audience
Once you've narrowed your understanding of who you're looking for, now it's time to find your target audience online. Listed below are some of the methods you may use separately or as part of an overall campaign:
Social Media
To leverage this tool, you may want to use the demographics as a way of identifying the sites where your target audience is more likely to visit.
- Facebook is by far the largest social media site. Around 69% of Americans have a Facebook account and appeals to people of just about every age group.
- Instagram is mainly used by younger persons than those who use Facebook. Roughly two-thirds of Americans below the age of 30, mostly women, are active on the platform.
- Twitter is preferred by a paltry 22% of the adult population, mostly male, in the United States. Its users tend to be based in the urban areas and are more educated than the users of the other platforms.
- Pinterest is largely loved by females who are educated and wealthy. Its users straddle just about every age group and are largely below the age of 65.
- The users of LinkedIn are largely below the age of 65 and are also very educated. They mainly reside in cities and suburbs and are also more likely to be seeking professional services rather than consumables.
General Rules and Guidelines
How you use each of these platforms varies because what the people do varies by the platform they're on. Here are a few general rules and guidelines you have to adhere to. These are:
- The users of Facebook are always seeking all kinds of goods and services such as consumer, business, and services.
- Instagram is mainly used to sell physical goods even though some services also tend to make use of the platform to reach out to a potential audience. For instance, any service that allows you to demonstrate a ‘before’ or ‘after’ photo is highly welcome.
- Pinterest’s users love finding products on the site which they go ahead and pin for later purchases.
- LinkedIn users are professionals who are more likely to seek out business products and services. For instance, if you run a clothing store, you would rather use Pinterest or Instagram.
- If on the other hand run a law firm, Facebook and LinkedIn may be the most suitable options.
Search Engine Marketing
While you're out there trying to find your target audience, it safe to say that some members of your target audience are out there trying to find you. They may not be looking for you specifically, but they are looking for someone who does what you do.
You really ought to make it easy for them. Make sure you're using search engine optimization to increase your visibility online.
They all boil down to a properly optimized website as well as a well-established online presence. This requires the use of relevant keywords. Consider what phrases potential customers would type into the search engines when trying to find your services or products you offer.
Your site also needs to be mobile-friendly and if possible optimized for voice search. On the same note, you also have to standardize your online listings and claim them in the leading review sites like Yelp, and Google.
When you're trying to find your target audience online, always realize that you are the haystack in search of a needle By shaping a reliable online presence across search, social and review platforms, you make it much easier for your future customers to find you.
When you start by understanding who you're trying to attract, you can better fine-tune your marketing campaigns and spend less time trying to find your target audience.
