How to Discover your Target Audience

As with any great brand, you need to know how to speak to your target audience or customer in order to effectively market to them. But how do you know who or what that is? We’re talking about audience framing today and how to find your ideal customer or client with just a few quick questions. So grab a sheet of paper and put on your brainstorming hats, because here we go!

Name your ideal customer within your target audience.

Give them a little backstory. Who are they and what will bring them to your door? In this case, we’re going to pretend we’re wedding real estate agents. Our ideal customer’s names are Helen and Raymond, mid-20’s, and buying their first home within the next six months from another city in another state.

What are some pieces of criteria that your target audience usually looks for?

This is going to be a little hard but think of common “boxes” you’re expected to check. Helen and Raymond are looking for a real estate agent with experience with first time home buyers and help them navigate the process of finding a reliable mortgage officer. Ideally, they are looking for a single-family home in a specific area of town that you know well.

What is a common problem your customer faces within the industry you serve?

Think about what you often hear from clients or customers within your industry. Helen and Raymond are having a hard time finding a home within their budget as they haven’t been saving for a down payment and will only have 3% down. They also don’t know anyone in the area and have been bombarded with options.

Why wouldn’t your target customer choose you?

This sounds bad but knowing your weaknesses is the first step in addressing them. What are some preconceived ideas about who you are or your offerings that your customers may think about? Helen and Raymond hesitate to work with someone from a larger agency because they want more personalized service and availability.

Why will they choose you?

This is where you shine. This is the place you reinforce your expertise, your product, or your quality of service. They’ll choose you because they see how long you’ve lived in the area, your personal approach to home buying, and your expertise with first-time homebuyers. You also have connections all over town and have compiled a list of networking opportunities and great places to meet new people.

All of this sounds so simple when you put it down on paper, right? But, here’s what you’ve done:

• Demographic: You are establishing your ideal customer demographic.
• Criteria: You are brainstorming the best ways to market or appeal to them by understanding what they want.
• Problems: You are focusing on how to solve the specific problem they’re looking to solve.
• Weakness: You are accounting for the ways they could say no before they actually do.
• Strengths: You are enhancing your value proposition by addressing the very best in what you have to offer.

Less than 10 minutes and you already have the beginnings of your brand and marketing strategy for your target audience. Maybe you have more than one ideal customer, but this is a great way to focus your efforts. Not sure where to go next? We can help with that, from branding to marketing and everything in between.