Who is Your Target Customer, Stop and Really Think About it.

Stop and Think About Your Target Audience

As we prepare to enter a new year, it is time to stop and examine your target audience as they tend to change over time. Many business owners are slow to recognize this change, which lets the competition get a foot in the door. This is a two-way street because the better you understand your product’s target audience the more likely you are to keep your current customers and the greater chance you have of convincing your competitor’s customers to become your customer.

Factors to Identify in Your Target Audience

There are several factors that you will want to identify when it comes to your target audience. These things include:

•Age •Education level •Entertainment choices •Ethnic identity •Gender •Geographical location •Hobbies •Income level •Internet usage •Media usage •Marital status •Number of children •Occupation •Personality type •Political beliefs •Recreational pursuits •Size of household The more that you know about your target audience, the more successful your company will become. Do not allow yourself to fall into the death trap of believing that you can worry about finding your target audience when your company becomes big enough. Alternatively, never fall into the trap of believing that your company is so big that you do not need to worry about its target audience.

How Can You Find Your Company’s Target Audience?

There are several methods that you can use to learn your company’s target audience. Successful companies use several different techniques.

Ask Your Current Customers

One highly successful method is simply to ask your current customers about themselves. Develop a survey and send it to all of your customers. Consider creating a giveaway to prompt customers to return their survey.

Create an Ideal Customer Profile

You can also start by creating your ideal customer profile. Start with a blank piece of paper and draw or cut out a picture that shows your ideal customer. Make sure to describe details about this persona.

Use Social Monitoring Tools

Social monitoring tools, like Social Mention, tell you who is talking about your company. They also are very useful because they inform you where the conversation is taking place which is an important factor when determining your marketing scheme.

Use Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a very useful tool to see who is coming to your website and from what locations. Playing with the dashboard allows you to see all types of interesting data on your customer that you are probably missing.

What is the Next Step?

Once you know who is in your target audience, then you can plan your marketing to produce the highest return on investment. Many businesses are going to find that their potential customers love to hang out on Facebook, but that is not true if you are marketing to younger people. Women use Pinterest far more than men while the average Twitter user is college educated and affluent. Additionally, when you know your target audience, then you can develop website content that speaks directly to them. Get busy and learn who is in your target audience today. Let Siren Song Marketing know if we can help.