There’s an old saying that goes, “Everyone dances to the beat of their own drum.”
When it comes to your product or your business, know that what you present and how you do it will be alluring to some and might not engage others.
An ideal customer. A niche market. A focus audience.
These are just some of the many ways of saying that your business shouldn’t aim to be a one-size-fits-all solution. Because when you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one.
If you don’t stand out, people will scroll right by.
That is why, to build a solid foundation for your business, you must first identify your typical customer and tailor your branding accordingly. Targeting a specific market gives you a chance to focus your marketing strategy and brand message on a specific audience that is likelier to approach you and buy from you.
It does not mean that you exclude those who do not fit your criteria; rather, it is a much more affordable, efficient, and effective way to reach potential customers.
Reaching the right customers invaluably boosts your business.
So, how do you reach your specific audience?
(Image source: Cyril Saulnier on Unsplash)
Target Audience Analysis
A target audience analysis clearly defines an audience your business can speak directly to and personalise how you communicate with their personality, needs and frustrations.
Some good old research gives you direction for your marketing. Build stronger relationships with your customers by ensuring credibility and consistency in your communication.
To work out which folks you should be targeting, you need to know:
1. Who are you talking to?
To learn how to speak to your audience, you must determine where to find them, and what they want from your brand.
Demographics help you understand their age, gender, education/profession, location, etc. This data can be vital for marketing and creating a brand identity that resonates with your customer.
You also need to consider your customers‘ psychographic. This information basically helps you understand „how“ your customer thinks.
Data like interests, opinions, personalities, attitudes, purchase intent, lifestyle choices, perceived barriers, etc. significantly helps you to define and segment your audience.
This information strengthens the context you are laying out between your audience and your brand.
After all, it’s all about relevancy.
In the end, setting your brand and marketing strategy in just one mould won’t have the same effect on every customer worldwide unless it is tailored to communicate to them personally.
2. How does your customer base communicate?
According to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, “Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.”
Indeed, look for common characteristics and interests among the customers who buy from you. Why do they buy from you? It is very likely that other people like them could also benefit from your product/service.
Getting to know how your existing customers communicate with one another and how they receive your product/service will allow you to adapt your strategy to entice and cater to potential customers with similar interests.
Defining such clusters allows you to hit the right keywords and model your SEO strategies that enable your brand to rank better.
3. What do your customers want?
It’s worthwhile to know whom your product appeals to. This gives you an insight into your audience’s buying behaviour and the opportunity to conduct a market analysis of what your ideal customer looks like.
To Florian Hartl, founder and creator of Clever Pasta GmbH, the aim to produce a healthy, tasty low-carb alternative to pasta-lovers was clear. Gathering inspiration from his own lifestyle before developing the idea, Florian defined the audience of his product as those who primarily did not have the time to prepare meals between work, and resorted to pizza and pasta lunches day in and day out.
Bringing this product from concept to creation, Clever Pasta now extensively offers a wide range of products not only to those who, like Florian, look for a healthier, tastier alternative to regular pasta but also to vegans, people with a low tolerance to gluten, and health-conscious ones alike.
Clever Pasta’s value proposition was well adapted to meet the needs of a niche audience while also being relevant to a specific need or problem which propelled their brand’s reach.
If what you offer and the products/services you present match what your audience is looking for, you’ll be more likely to resonate with your audience and thereby gain a customer.
Keep in mind – relevancy and consistency is a big player in building a loyal customer base.
4. How does your niche audience compare and choose products?
It is valuable to know who your competitors are targeting. This is another way of identifying what your customers prefer.
Get a feel for the kind of customers that products/services like yours are targeting. Then ask yourself if your product fills the gaps that they might have missed. There could, for example, be features the customers might want to be added or removed.
Surveying the audience at this stage can help in gauging what they miss or don’t miss. Presenting an MVP for them to test early on in development can bring in invaluable insights which help in adapting the further development of your product to make it best suited for your customer.
This is also a good time to reanalyze your product/service and address a niche market that other brands are overlooking. By adjusting your marketing campaigns you can make your offering seem the most compelling and leverage your brand.
Useful metrics to help you identify your target audience
As management guru Peter Drucker said, „what’s measured improves.“ While it sometimes can be a hit and miss when it comes to understanding customer behaviour, you can greatly benefit from aligning certain metrics with your products to measure what works best. This gives you a clearer picture of how to effectively adjust your marketing strategy.
For example, you might want to know how effectively your website is leading its visitors to contact your business. It’s good to know a few important performance indicators to chart your website’s progress. Let’s take a look at some of the metrics that can help you know how effectively you’re reaching your target audience.
Keyword Searches
What words are visitors using to search for products/services like yours? Using the right keywords and optimising them regularly can connect your product to the audience you’re targeting.
Impressions
How many times does your product content display whether on social media or other websites? These values give you a sharper understanding of whether or not you’re reaching your target audience. You can also measure if this audience is interacting with your brand.
Reach
How many people can see your content through all your channels, including social media? If your content reaches many people without converting, then it’s probably reaching the wrong audience.
Since it is highly relevant in understanding the effectiveness of your social media strategy, you should ideally decide whether your customers can be reached organically or through paid content.
Engagement
How many times have people responded to your content after seeing it? These could be ways in which your customers interact with your brand, which, when optimised, can often convert into sales.
Brand engagement is also a famously effective tool to promote stronger customer relationships. So by knowing what keeps your target audience engaged, you can identify ways in which to reach out to them with stronger brand messages.
Traffic sources
Where do your visitors come from, or what sources lead traffic to your website? When you know how people find your product, you can focus your marketing strategies in that direction to boost traffic.
Click-Through-Rate (CTR)
How many people who’ve seen a link or ad of your product, clicked on it? CTR helps you estimate how your keywords, ads and product listings are performing. The higher the CTR, the more relevant and helpful your ad or product listing is to your target audience.
Conversion Rate
What percentage of visits to your website actually convert? It’s basically the action you’re expecting from a potential customer, whether it’s making a purchase, filling a form, subscribing to your newsletter or calling your business.
Tracking the overall conversions lets you measure and compare the overall performance of all your Call-to-Actions. This way you know what needs improvement and what’s performing well.
Rate of Return
What percentage of visitors return to your website? Sometimes conversions happen on a second or third visit to your website. Learn what brings your audience back to your website by tracking the rate of return. This allows you to also work on building a relationship with repeat visitors and improving your brand through insight gathered from repeat customers.
Bounce Rate
What percentage of visitors navigate away from your website after viewing just one page? When your bounce rate is high, it’s likely that your content is not reaching your target audience. Adjust your marketing efforts by optimising your keywords and monitoring your traffic sources to channel the right audience.
These are a few of the many aspects of businesses that need to be estimated. If you can measure them, you’ll know exactly where you need to focus your resources. Simply said, measuring your performance throughout your business produces opportunities to improve.
Finally, when building a brand fraternity, it is good to keep in mind that if you do one thing and do it well, people will remember that. That’s what izz.ai believes in too. By knowing our customers and addressing their needs, we strive to create a brand message that reaches them effectively.
Want to discover more about how we identify and segment our audience to serve them better? Then write to us at hello@izz.ai.
And always remember – Different strokes for different folks!
