Spending time finding out about your audience is one of the best things you can do as a marketer. You may have the most incredible product or service in the world – but if you don’t know who you’re selling to, what their needs are and how to reach them, you’ll be on the back foot from the start.
Once you know who you are marketing to, you’ll have a whole new route to finding a connection with the people who will love your company.
Here’s our top tips on learning who your audience are, and really getting to know them.
Don’t try to be everything to everyone
You will have a much better result from your marketing if you concentrate on a specific target market. It is almost impossible to appeal to 100% of the people 100% of the time – it just doesn’t work. Your messaging will be muddled and hard to decipher, your tone of voice will be inconsistent and your marketing campaigns unspecific. You will have a happier customer, and a clearer brand and message, if you select a smaller more targeted group of people at which to aim your product or service.
It is possible that you will have more than one audience group, and that’s ok. But you need to be clear on what your messaging is for each of those groups, and what tone of voice you will adopt to speak to them.
What do you have to offer your audience?
This point returns to the USP of your business. Why did you set up in the first place? What are the features that define your offer, and why do customer choose you? What kind of values do you exhibit as a company that will appeal to your target audience? Think about what you have to offer, and what kind of people will feel a connection to that.
What do you know about who they are?
You will have a wealth of data at your disposal if you use booking systems and CRM systems to manage your relationships with your customers. Use the data you have to build a clear picture of who they are.
First of all, you should consider the demographics of your customers. Speak to your front of house staff, your customer services team, your sales people. What do they know in addition to what’s in the system? Think about things such as age, location, occupation, marital status and income to see if you can build a picture of your customer.
There’s other things it’s worth thinking about too. What do you know about who your customers are as people? Their attitudes, beliefs, interests and lifestyle will all help to build a good picture of who they are.
Understanding these factors will give you a better understanding of who your customers are on a personal level, and knowing this will help you understand how to build the right messages for them.
Build a picture of your customer
Many businesses these days choose to create a buyer persona – a semi-fictional representation of their target customer.
Buyer personas can be created through research, surveys, and interviews — all with a mix of customers, prospects, and those outside your contacts database who might align with your target audience. Developing personas allows you to create content and messaging that appeals to your target audience. It also enables you to target your marketing for different segments of your audience.
If you’d like to continue this conversation, and see how Marbell can support you with audience segmentation and understanding who your customers are, please get in touch to talk about how we can work together.
