Have you ever received an advertisement in the mail and wondered why the business wasted their money sending it to you? What about the countless ads you see when you’re online checking your email or catching up with friends on social media?
It seems as if some business owners hope if they put an ad out to the public someone will bite. Doing something is better than doing nothing…right? Wrong! Businesses need to zoom in on their ideal customer.
Social media has played into a false perception that when you want to advertise your business the audience is already there. What a lot of people miss, is how to use their tools to target the buyer your product or service is designed for.
This is where many businesses get stuck. Understanding who your customer is is a key factor in marketing.
Keep reading to learn more about defining your target audience and how to reach them.
Defining Your Ideal Customer
Defining your ideal customer may seem like a tough question but if you think about it, it’s not. Most people start a business to provide a solution to a demand.
Your business is no different. If you sell shoes your customer is someone in need of shoes. Not everyone needs work boots or party shoes. Therefore, if you sell shoes for children your ideal customer is parents that need shoes for their children.
Not even this concept is full proof. Within that targeted audience, you may find there is a smaller niche audience. For example, children in need of ballerina Pointe shoes.
Understand Who Your Product or Service is Designed For
When deciding to go into business, regardless of the product or service you will offer, it is crucial to outline who is in need of what you will offer. This information will direct many of the decisions you’ll have to make about your business.
Things like do you need a brick and mortar business or can you sell solely online. Or can you benefit from both?
You will also need to know if your sales strategy requires a team of salespeople or will an online information portal do your selling.
What are the Best Ways to Market Your Business?
Knowing what is a prospective customer helps you market your business. In today’s digital era there are many ways to do marketing. Traditional methods are still fruitful so don’t throw all your eggs into one basket.
You know your product better than anyone else. Take a look at what you have tried in the past. Assess how people responded to your campaigns. Using that data, create a list of who responded favorably and who did not.
Continue to drill down into the data to see which demographic responded more often. You should begin to see a pattern. Chances are your ideal customer is right there in the information you already have.
How Will People Discover Your Business?
Surveys are still beneficial to businesses. On your company website, there needs to be a method to encourage site visitors to subscribe. Don’t make your email list all about marketing.
People want to feel important to the businesses they support. When someone subscribes to your email list create an autoresponder that goes out with a brief survey. Ask how they discovered your business.
This will give you a good idea of where and how marketing dollars should be spent.
What Forms of Advertising will Appeal to Your Audience?
There are many forms of advertising. Not everything is one size fits all. Some things you will know off the bat is not for your business or client base. Other techniques may surprise you with the results they garner.
Let’s take a look at a few.
Traditional Marketing
Traditional marketing is seen as anything you do that does not require the internet to get your message out. These are techniques businesses use more often when they have a physical location.
- Postcard mailings
- Door hangers
- TV commercials
- Radio advertising
- Community events
Digital Marketing
Digital marketing includes techniques businesses use to promote via the internet. There is a strong possibility that your ideal customer comes from a global market.
In places like China, e-commerce sales in 2019 were expected to reach nearly $2 trillion, bypassing US global sales. This shows the power of digital reach.
- Social media
- Geotargeting
- Google AdWords
- Video marketing
- Retargeting
- Mobile Apps
These are a few of the powerful tools available for identifying customers.
Creating Targeted Marketing Campaigns
No matter how much data you are able to gather to define your ideal customer, it still may require trial and error to get it right. Targeted marketing campaigns will help you zero in on your true client base.
A targeted marketing campaign helps you identify people that are most likely to support your business.
Using the data you have gathered about your buyer and clients, create ads using their demographic information, i.e., age, location, gender, interests, etc. On social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, you can build campaigns centered around this information.
Monitor your campaigns for reach and then tweak them as more data becomes available.
Learn from Your Mistakes
We often see the word “perfect” associated with marketing. Unless you know who your customers are, there is no perfect pitch. Remember, in the beginning, marketing is about trial and error.
Until you can fully define your ideal customer, you will have to explore the data and try new things. Don’t beat yourself up. It is part of doing business.
You can then move on to focus more time and attention to developing products or services your clients will love.
It’s Time to Make a Connection
Defining your ideal customer is important to the success of your business. Having a better understanding of how to target your key demographic will help your marketing, dramatically. It will also garner a better return on your advertising investments.
Do you have questions about growing your business? We’re here to help. Click here to connect with one of our team members.