How to strategically reach your target audience

| October 6, 2015

How to strategically reach your target audience

Building a business takes time and effort. Time to think of a certain concept, an idea and time to present it to others as a viable product – one that they want to buy.  However, not everyone will want or need your product, and so advertising it far and wide will be a waste of valuable time if you miss your niche, target audience.

An audience is the group of people who will see your product or service as valuable. Your product will solve their problem , help them to move forward and alleviate the complexity they face.

Identify the audience

To reach this audience, you first need to identify them by gender, age, industry and interest. The best way to do this is to picture this specific person in your mind. Rather than focussing attention on a group of people, narrow the group to one person. How will you reach them? Speak to them? Where will you find them? What social network is that person using? What products are they already trying out? Picture them and keep that snapshot in your mind.

Meet the Need

Once you’ve identified your audience, it is important to concretely ascertain how your product or service will meet their needs. “Our cleaning product effectively removes soap scum.” “Our SEO company will make sure your business gets found.” “Our kitchen company will provide a custom designed kitchen.”

Provide a Benefit

It is also important to write down not only how a need is met, but also the benefits your target audience will gain. Benefits are positive and give a desired bonus such as leisure time, sweet aroma, more productivity, increased business, more money.

Brainstorming the target audience, their needs and the potential benefits gives your business insight into who you should reach and also your marketing strategies.

The Marketing Strategy in 3 Steps

  1. A marketing strategy will state the desperate need – the problem and the negative that needs fixing: the leaky tap, resistant soap scum, blocked drains, lack of productivity, no business leads, no time.
  2. The second part of the marketing strategy is about convincing the audience that your business answers the specific need.
  3. The third part of the marketing strategy is to state the “happiness factor”,  the positive effect when the need is effectively met: time, leisure, money, clean home, productivity – a happy life!

Every audience seeks the end result – the happiness factor.

The key to targeting and marketing to that audience is framing your business effectively (without overdone clichés) and in a way that penetrates to their need, resolves their problems and provides them with their desired end result.