Imagine you’re a business owner who wants to set up a Facebook ad campaign. You don’t want everyone to see your ad because you’ll just spend more money. You regardless, set up your ads to your “supposed” target audience. One of the biggest mistakes that businesses make is trying to appeal to everyone. It doesn’t make sense to try to please everyone- your time, energy, money is better invested in a target audience.
Your target audience is a part of your target market. Let’s imagine again that you sell shirts. The question will be: Who are you targeting to buy those shirts? The answer is your target audience.
What then is a target audience and how do you attract them?
Wikipedia defines the term target audience as “the intended audience or readership of a publication, advertisement or other messages.”
Every business has a target audience and businesses with a wide target market focus on a specific target audience to pass across messages. The importance of it cannot be neglected.
A target audience is more specific. Research is made on the attitude, behavior, demographics, etc of a chosen target audience. The target audience is then reduced to specifics such as gender, age, location, etc.
It’s one thing to know your target audience, it’s another ball game to identify them. This article reveals five sure ways to attract your target audience.
1. Identify your target audience
This might sound strange, but how do you attract whom you haven’t identified? Identifying your target audience is the first approach to attract them. Failure of targeting a specific target audience leads to information being conveyed incorrectly.
One of the best ways to identify your target audience is to create a customer profile. They are most likely to buy your products or services. The details include age, gender, location, income level, occupation, marital status, and interests.
2. Establish and maintain empathy with your target audience.
When businesses establish and maintain empathy with their target audience, they see themselves in their audiences’ shoes. This way, there’s a better understanding of their problems and solutions are provided.
Businesses who empathize with their target audience understands the magic of emotions and how messages appeal to these ones.
3. Build a relationship with your target audience.
A relationship is vital in attracting your target audience. When businesses build relationships with their target audience, they show that you have their best interest in mind and are ready to give them what they need and more.
You get inside their head and figure out their motivations. It’s important because when businesses know the motivation of their target audience, they can do things to attract them and help them achieve their goals.
To build a good relationship, talk to/ with your target audience, not at them.
Nowadays, businesses can know exactly what their target audience thinks or wants. They can get their opinions or even can ask them directly. This is what establishing a good relationship with your target audience can do.
4. Research about your target audience always
Today, people are picky and it’s getting harder for companies to grab their attention. The competition in the different target markets is increasing as new entrants are on the rise.
To attract your target audience, you need to research. In this case, research will help you gain new knowledge about your target audience which helps with ideas that’ll help you to continue to remain relevant to them.
On the web or social media space, what type of content do they enjoy- entertaining, educative, conversational, etc? This will help you create engaging content that converts. Remember, effective advertising begins with listening to your audience.
In your research, hang out where your target audience hangs out. It’s very important to use demographic research to understand when and where your audience is consuming media too. By so doing, you attract them to your business.
5. Build trust and credibility.
With the right tone, words and images, you can develop a strategy for making your company trustworthy and credible. If you haven’t established trust and credibility with your target audience, attempting to resonate with them or attract them will be a difficult task. For new, young and relatively unknown businesses, building credibility and trust are essential for future success and growth.
When trust and credibility have been built, it’s easier for your customers to become your brand advocate and tell others about your products/ services.
