So, today I’m going to show you how to capture your target audience. Or better yet, KIDNAP them.
You reading this, yes you. You are my target audience.
How do I know? Because I do.
Because I know who my target audience are. I know how they think. I know where they live. I know what they want. I know how to kidnap them.
Now, before you close your laptop or switch off your phone in fear of being kidnapped.
I am not actually planning to kidnap anyone. I’m planning on showing you how to CAPTURE an audience.. (Kidnapping just sounded cooler)
KNOWING YOUR AUDIENCE
So, here you are. The audience. Reading my blog. You’ve made a conscious decision to buy into what I’m selling. You CHOSE to read this. You are CHOOSING to keep on reading this.. regardless of some obscure reference to a crime that may receive life imprisonment.
But I wrote that because I KNEW you would like it. I KNEW it would intrigue you. I KNEW you would click.
Now I wasn’t trying to allure aspiring kidnappers to this blog. So, if you are a member of that demographic then I’m sorry to disappoint.
I am actually reaching out to small business owners with a need for digital marketing advice.. which takes me onto the purpose of this blog.
Time and time again.. I have sat down in front of clients and asked the simple question of “Who are your target audience?”
This is surprisingly sometimes met with a blank, a hesitation, a realisation that they don’t really know themselves. This is DETRIMENTAL.
When clients do have an answer – it can be very ambiguous.
“Oh, our target audience is mainly people in Manchester”
“We target younger women”
“We market to local businesses”
NO! NO! NO!
This is not a target audience. If you were to target these “audiences”, where would you start?!
Younger Women – how can you develop a digital marketing strategy that taps into this market with precision & achieve long-term engagement?!
What classes as a younger woman? 18-21? 21-25? Younger than 30?
Think of all the young women you know, do they all like the same stuff? Do they read all the same blogs? Do they all like the same music? Do they all hang around in the same places?
Of course not.
BE SPECIFIC
This is why you need to SPECIFY!
The more specific & precise you can be when you envision your DESIRED CUSTOMER the easier it will be for you to develop a strategy that truly captures them.
Now, if you told me you were targeting 18-21 year old women in the Manchester-area that were currently at university and loved dogs.
THAT GIVES US SOMETHING TO WORK WITH!
Now we know quite a lot about them.
AGE – the age of your target audience allows you to assume what decade of music they may like, what social media pages they are likely to use, what sort of individuals you should use in your adverts.
LOCATION – you know where to target PPC ads, you know where to study trends on social media, you know what topics & spaces will be most likely filled with these people.
OCCUPATION – you know what they do, what their ambitions may be, what their schedules might be like, what might interest them, what could HELP them.
INTERESTS – you know what will draw them in, you know what they enjoy, you know what will keep them engaged, you know more about THEM.
Even now, this is over-simplified. As I’m aware I’m rambling on a bit. However, it can’t be stressed enough.
FEAR OF EXCLUSION
When I propose this to clients, they’re always scared of “excluding” other demographics and potential customers.
Which I always rebut with a simplified analogy of mine (IT’S ABOUT CHOCOLATE!!) –
“If you are set with the task of selling a chocolate bar in a room full of groups with varying motivations; one group likes white chocolate, one likes dark, one likes theirs with nuts, although one has a nut allergy.. and so on.
What is your best approach? Do you advertise your chocolate bar as just that? You try and keep it general to hopefully please all audiences? Do you forget about each individual’s needs and just hope they all are happy to settle for just any old chocolate bar.
Or do you think, hold on.. I’m going to market this in a way in which one group of the consumers will be so targeted & engaged that there is no chance they won’t be captured. Thus, guaranteeing those sales.
Your target audience is then captured.
But what about the rest? Will they be so excluded by the fact that this chocolate bar doesn’t cater to their every need? Or will they see a group of deeply-satisfied customers enjoying their purchase and eventually give it a try themselves?”
YOU CAN’T PLEASE EVERYBODY!
The age-old saying goes “you can’t please everybody”.
That’s not to say don’t be an inclusive brand – but if you’re selling chocolate bars with nuts in, you can’t advertise that to people with nut allergies.. that would be murder.. which is kinda worse than kidnapping.
This blog just scratches the surface however hopefully it has provided an insight into such a fundamental step of developing an effective digital marketing strategy. In the first half of this article, I have underlined certain words. These are all factors to consider when you are trying to capture an audience – there are so many. The more you understand & consider, the better results you are likely to receive.
How To Capture Your Audience – by Alex Bottomley.