Successful brands know their target audience, inside and out. These businesses know where customers live and shop, how they prefer to purchase items, what types of products and services they want, and more.
Businesses cannot be all things to all people. That’s why it’s important to identify a target audience, or audiences, as part of a strategic marketing plan.
Priority Marketing helps businesses of all sizes define their core audiences, essentially building a customer profile. This can include current customers, former customers and future customers. The firm also helps nonprofits identify a target audience, which can include donors, volunteers, families and other groups.
A well-defined target audience allows brands to craft messages that resonate, drive engagement and lead to greater success. Ensuring that your audience feels seen, heard, understood and catered to is of paramount importance.
What is a target audience?
A target audience represents the group of consumers that are most likely to be interested in a business’ products and services. As such, this group should be the focus of marketing campaigns.
One example would be a sports bar. Key audiences would be fans of NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL teams, as well as college sports teams. Additionally, the sports bar would pinpoint those likely to consume traditional bar staples, like chicken wings, burgers, nachos and beer.
When Priority Marketing helped 810 Entertainment launch its first Florida location in Estero, the firm partnered with the business to identify five distinct audiences:
- Families with children
- Young professionals
- College students
- Foodies
- Corporate and civic groups
Several years ago, Business Observer published a case study exploring the success of a Dave & Buster’s grand opening event managed by Priority Marketing. The company’s target audience was Play Together Young Adults, or PTYAs. This group consisted of 21- to 34-year-old males and females in the greater Fort Myers area. Priority Marketing used that information to coordinate outreach to multiple audiences, including individuals associated with:
- Local corporations
- Area businesses
- Members of the media
- Community leaders
- Social media influencers
- Professional groups
- Civic associations
- Public officials
- Athletic/sports team leaders
- Colleges
- Charitable organizations
A final example would be social media influencers, who typically have a well-defined target audience. Whether they focus on lifestyle, food and drink, family, travel or luxury items, influencers tailor content to their followers.
READ MORE: Influencer marketing brings brands to new audiences
The four ‘graphics’
Brands seeking clarity about their target audience should focus on the four “graphics” of audience identification: demographics, psychographics, geographics and technographics.
Southwest Florida has a population of 1.5 million. Not all are potential customers for a business. The true number could be in the thousands, or perhaps as low as a few dozen for some B2B companies.
Below are the four “graphics” to consider:
(1) Demographics
- Age
- Gender
- Education
- Occupation
- Household income
(2) Psychographics
- Opinions
- Beliefs
- Attitudes
- Values
(3) Geographics
- Location
- Time zone
- Climate/season
- Language
- Cultural preferences
(4) Technographics
- Device preferences
- Software preferences
- E-commerce behavior
- Social media preferences
Factored together, the “graphics” help brands create segmentation, a marketing term that means splitting customers into sub-groups.
“While you can try and market a product to everyone, consumers have different needs and preferences,” Harvard Business School Professor Sunil Gupta noted in an article about identifying target audiences. “What appeals to one group of consumers may not appeal to another group.”
READ MORE: How media buyers help businesses maximize the advertising budget
Want to understand your audience?
Do you know exactly who is coming through your front door, visiting your website and following you on social media? Is that your target audience, or is there another group that might be better to pursue? An experienced firm like Priority Marketing helps businesses large and small identify their target audience before developing a strategic marketing plan that outlines steps to achieving success.
Interested in learning more? Please give us a call today at 239-267-2638 or send an email to LetsTalk@PriorityMarketing.com.
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