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For a marketing campaign to be effective, one of the goals is to gear your product or brand to the correct people; your ads should be able to resonate with specific individuals or a certain demographic. Be it a certain age group or a group of people living in a certain neighborhood, this is what marketers and media buyers refer to as a “target audience” or “target demographic”. By definition, a target audience is a group of consumers that are most likely to want to purchase your product or service, and therefore are the group of people that will pay attention to your ads. A target audience can be dictated by age, gender, income, geographic location, interests and/or ethnic background.
Knowing and understanding your target audience is vital to a great marketing campaign as it will define the planning, strategy and execution in addition to increasing your return on investment (ROI). So how does one go about determining their target audience?
Analyze Customer Base
One of the best ways to identify your target audience is to look at who is already consuming your product/service. Are they in the same age group? Do they live in the same area? Are their hobbies and interests similar?
Conduct Market Research
Do some research on your industry’s market and try to figure out if there are any grey areas that your business can fill. Monitor trends for similar businesses and see what areas they are focusing on and then hone in on your brand’s unique value.
Analyze Competitors
You can learn a lot by looking at what your competitors are up to. What similar products are they selling? What kind of ads are they using? Who is paying attention to those ads?
Determine Who Isn’t Your Target Audience
While most brands like to focus on who’s likely to buy their product/service, it’s also important to know who isn’t going to do so. It’s important to know who won’t act on your ad’s messaging as to not waste money, efforts and resources on advertising and media placement.
In conclusion, determining the right audience for your ad requires a great deal of research that will ultimately pay off in the end.
Happy advertising!
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