When you begin to explore the world of digital marketing, one term you hear frequently is “target audience.” The target audience will guide many of your marketing decisions, help you segment your ads, and more. Here is a look at what a target audience is, and the role it plays in your digital marketing campaign.
Target Audience: Definition
In the marketing world, effective campaigns do not reach everybody. In order to develop an effective digital marketing campaign, you need to reach the people who will benefit from what you have to offer. That group of people is called your target audience.
Target Audience: Characteristics
No two target audiences are the same. A landscape business may want to reach a different audience than does a florist, for example.
In order to define your specific target audience, you need to identify the characteristics that they share. For local marketing, you will need to focus on people who live in your service area.
You can also choose other characteristics shared by the consumers you want to reach. For example, people who need your landscaping services are probably all homeowners within a certain income bracket. You may even find that the ones most interested in landscaping own a certain type of property or fall into a certain age bracket.
There are many characteristics to consider when building a picture of your target audience. Here are some of the characteristics that can influence their level of interest in your business:
- Age
- Income Level
- Location
- Budget
- Internet Device
- Hobbies
- Internet Search History
- Prior Purchases
- Prior Encounters with Your Business
- Religion
- Ethnicity
- Marital Status
- Number of Children
- Pets
- Career Goals
- And more
There are an almost infinite number of demographics, and combination of demographics, that you can use to define your target audience.
Your job is to figure out which characteristics are shared by the people who most want and benefit from your products and services.
Target Audience: Identification
Identifying the target audiences for your digital marketing campaigns takes a little bit of investigative work. Before you go about finding the right audiences, there are three other things you should know:
Your target audience can change depending on your campaign.
For example, say you want to run a retargeting campaign. Your target audience for that campaign would be anyone who viewed your landscaping services on your website. It would not matter what their demographic information was. However, for a Google Ads campaign, you might want to target anyone in a certain location who types in a certain search term. The target audiences are different but the goal is the same: To reach people who might be interested in your products and services.
You can have multiple target audiences.
For example, as a landscaping business, you may want to target homeowners within Putnam County who own more than 1 acre of land. You may also want to target homeowners who are preparing to sell their homes and want to improve the curb appeal of their houses. Each of these groups of people is a target audience who could benefit from your products and services.
You may have target audiences you haven't even thought about.
The process of identifying your target audiences may reveal groups of people you never before tried to reach. Expanding the number of people you target can help to make your marketing, and your business, more profitable.
In order to successfully identify your target audience, there are a few steps you should take.
Analyze your current customers.
Who is buying from you right now? What qualities do they have in common?
Analyze your products and services.
In order to understand who can benefit from your products and services, you need to understand what you have to offer consumers. Start by writing down all the features and benefits of your products and services. Then, start thinking about who needs those benefits. The groups of people who come to mind may be your target audience.
Consult your online analytics.
Who is visiting your website and interacting with your social media? What qualities do they have in common, especially when they stay and engage?
Look at your competition.
Who is your competition targeting? Will these same people be interested in your products and services? Why or why not?
Engage in an ongoing process.
Identifying your target audiences will not happen just once. Every time you launch a new marketing campaign, you will need to evaluate which groups of consumers will most benefit from that campaign. Every time you introduce a new product or service, you will need to identify the audiences who will want that new offering. Remain open to re-evaluating your target audiences in order to ensure that you are always reaching the right people with your marketing campaigns.
How Do You Attract Your Target Audience
How do you attract your target audience? This is a question that many people have but don't know the answer to. We live in an ever-changing world where consumers' needs and wants are constantly evolving, so it's important for businesses to keep up with these changes. Digital marketing is one of the best ways to reach your target audience and get them interested in what you have to offer. In this blog post, we will discuss how digital marketing can help you attract your target market!
Find A Local Web Design Company
If you've read this far you've likely taken notes, started planning, and may feel overwhelmed. That's totally natural and we know you can do this! However, you likely have a lot on your plate and sometimes you can feel burnt out as a business owner. That is why we suggest you find a local web design company that you can trust.
A web design company may be able to do a lot for you. Let's say you want a website that is tailored to the need of your digital marketing target audience but you are not sure exactly how to accomplish that. Simply contact a web design company and tell them what you are looking for!
A local Web Design Company is one that has an office in your town. If they don't, then it's likely too far away to be able to work on the project with you at all hours of the day. Many web design companies will work with clients from anywhere in the world, but they can't give you the face-to-face time you need and deserve. By working with Distinct we pair you with a local advisor who understands your needs and can help make sure our services are tailored to you!
Stay Focused On Your Digital Marketing Target Audience
If you decide to go it alone then you need to stay focused on the target audience that you've determined. This can take shape in many forms but we suggest you envision how your target audience will engage with your website first.
– Do they use mobile devices or desktop computers?
– What kind of language do they speak and what is their native tongue?
– How much time will they spend on each device browsing your website (i.e., 30 minutes, an hour)?
– Are there specific features they would like to be able to see?
These are all things to consider in regards to your target market. For example, a wedding event center is going to have a website that looks much different than a retirement home!
This comparison may seem silly at first but it really draws a great contrast. A wedding venue is typically targeting a young crowd that is interested in images, pricing, and availability.
A retirement home is targeting an older population that may be more interested in services offered, amenities provided (such as hair salon), and contact information.
These are just a few examples but you can imagine the differences will vary from industry to industry depending on the target market! How do you target industries?
Write Blog Posts That Focus On Your Target Audience
Adding blog content to your website is going to enhance user engagement and Search Engine Optimization. These are great reasons to blog but most importantly you need to focus the posts on your digital marketing target audience. When you blog, your website is going to rank higher in search engines and the content will also be more relevant.
Your target audience should set the goalposts for what type of information they want on your site. They are likely looking at a lot of websites so it's important that their experience with yours is tailored just for them. This includes writing posts related to the typical client questions, adding value to your target audience, or even offering coupons or discounts to help them make a purchase.
It's not just about blogging for the sake of blogging, you need to think about what your target audience will find valuable and how it can be incorporated into their daily lives. The more content they consume from your website, the higher chance that they'll come back and build trust with your brand!
What's Your Next Step For Reaching Your Digital Marketing Target Audience?
Following this process might reveal that you have been trying to reach the wrong people, or it might help you to uncover new groups of people to target in your digital audience strategy. Either way, you should end up with a clearer idea of who to reach with your digital marketing campaigns, and you can begin to build buyer personas and targeted marketing campaigns.When you need to identify and use target audiences in your digital marketing campaigns, you may want to hire a professional digital marketing company. Here at Distinct, we can help you find the right audience to target for each of your campaigns.
With our assistance, you can make sure that you deliver a compelling message to each of your target audiences. Your peers might even look at you as a digital marketing icon. We help you speak their language, address their pain points, and win their business and their loyalty for an effective and powerful digital marketing campaign.
