Target audience: How to find

What is a target audience?

The term "target audience" describes a segment of consumers who share common characteristics such as demographic information, behaviors, and interests. Typically, companies and products cater to various target audiences that reflect a range of products and user demographics.

 

Brands pinpoint their ideal consumers by defining audience traits, which helps them visualize who their potential customers are. This visualization enhances brand messaging, sharpens marketing strategies, and even influences future product development.

 

For instance, a wine company cannot market effectively to both luxury wine enthusiasts and inexperienced wine drinkers. By conducting target audience research, they might discover that their ideal wine consumers are individuals aged 24 to 30 who enjoy wine but have budget constraints. With this knowledge, they can concentrate on attracting these specific buyers rather than attempting to reach a broader audience.

Target Market vs Target Audience

Both the target market and target audience are methods for categorizing customers for segmentation. However, the term "target market" denotes a wider group of potential customers. The target audience is a more defined segment that exists within the target market.

 

For instance, consider IKEA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania:

•              Target market: Individuals in western Pennsylvania.

•              Target audience: Individuals in western Pennsylvania looking for affordable furniture.

•              A possible target segment: Expectant parents in western Pennsylvania seeking budget-friendly nursery furniture.

 

Once you have pinpointed a target segment, the next step is to develop buyer personas that encapsulate the specific emotions and needs of each customer segment.

 

Are these concepts becoming clearer? Don't fret, this isn't an exam and you won't be penalized — as long as you concentrate on understanding the individuals who purchase your product.

Types of Target Audiences

The world doesn't require more generic marketing strategies. Personalization is essential, and it’s a demand that today’s consumers have. According to a survey by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), over 80% of participants expressed a desire for personalized experiences.

This can be accomplished by concentrating on the various types of target audiences for your brand. Here’s a quick overview:

1. Demographics: Identifying who your customer is

2. Customer journey stage: Understanding their familiarity with your brand

3. Interests: Discovering how customers allocate their time

4. Subcultures: Recognizing relevant customer identities

5. Values: Identifying what is most important to your buyers

Now, let’s explore what makes these aspects unique and examine real-life examples to gain insights.

Demographics

Demographic segmentation categorizes a market into smaller groups based on various characteristics such as age, race, gender, marital status, income, education, and nationality.

 

Each demographic element plays a role in shaping consumer behavior and preferences for products. For instance:

• Gender: Shoppers frequently make choices in fashion, beauty, and health that correspond with their gender identity. Marketing approaches often vary when addressing men, women, or non-binary individuals.

• Income: A person's economic status affects their purchasing power, determining which products or services they can afford.

• Age: Preferences for products can differ greatly among various age groups, as can the media used for advertising and the campaigns themselves.

 

For instance, AARP's business model is centered around age segmentation: the organization focuses on individuals who are either at or approaching retirement age. This focus is evident in their marketing materials, such as a Facebook post discussing "elderspeak."

 

Demographic information is gathered through censuses, market research, and analytical tools.

Customer Journey Stages

• The phrase "customer journey" describes the various interactions a customer has with a brand. Typical stages encompass product awareness, consideration, purchase, and retention.
• When focusing on different phases of the customer journey, your marketing should respond to inquiries such as:
• Awareness: What is this product?
• Consideration: Why should I buy?
• Purchase: Is this product suitable for me?
• Retention: Why should I make another purchase?
• This approach to targeting is effective because it provides the precise messaging that individuals require, based on their level of familiarity with the product.
• Let's examine the electrolyte brand Liquid IV as a case study and explore how they develop content aimed at the various stages of the customer journey:
• What exactly is Liquid IV? Awareness content serves to inform potential customers about the challenges associated with the product and presents it as a viable solution.
•  What motivates someone to make a purchase? Consideration content aids users in grasping the advantages of the product.
•  Which product is the most suitable for me at this moment? Purchase content provides information about the product and includes testimonials.
•  What are the reasons for repurchasing it? Retention content promotes repeat buying by highlighting further applications of the product.

Interests

Interests encompass the hobbies and activities that customers find enjoyable. By grasping customer interests, you can uncover their motivations and behaviors, allowing you to connect with your audience in a more relatable manner.

 

A single product can appeal to various target groups depending on customer interests. For instance, consider a bicycle. Cyclist A may be drawn to racing bikes, seeking to burn calories by cycling long distances after work. In contrast, Cyclist B might prefer a leisurely bike ride to work.

 

Recognizing customer interests related to your product is essential for reaching the appropriate buyers.

 

Priority Bicycles specifically addresses the needs of Cyclist B, as evidenced by their slogan: “bicycles for everyday riders.” This clear positioning enables cyclists to easily determine if this brand aligns with their interests.

 

How to Find Your Target Audience

Here are five steps you can take to identify and enhance your target audience.

1. Utilize HubSpot Analytics to gain insights into your customers.

According to HubSpot's 2024 State of Marketing report, only 65% of marketers possess high-quality data regarding their target audience. This means that 35% are uncertain about their audience's characteristics.

HubSpot Analytics serves as a fantastic resource for collecting demographic information about your audience, along with real-time insights into the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns.

Here’s some data you can access through the analytics dashboard.

Traffic Analytics

This feature monitors your website's performance and other digital assets. It offers metrics such as page views, unique visitors, bounce rates, and session duration.

Additionally, you can view your traffic sources (organic, direct, referrals, social media, etc.), which aids in understanding which channels are generating the most engagement.

Conversion Analytics

HubSpot enables you to monitor the performance of your landing pages and other conversion tools. This encompasses data regarding form submissions, lead conversions, and the success of various calls-to-action (CTAs).

 

Additionally, you can examine the conversion paths to enhance the journey your visitors take from entering the site to becoming leads and eventually paying customers.

 

Campaign Analytics

 You can effortlessly assess the effectiveness of each marketing campaign you are managing within HubSpot. This includes metrics such as impressions, clicks, conversions, sales, and ROI, allowing you to determine which campaigns yield the best results.

 

Custom Reports

 HubSpot provides the capability to generate custom reports tailored to your specific requirements. You can aggregate diverse data points from marketing, sales, and service platforms to create detailed reports that align with your unique business needs.

 

Pro tip: If you haven't yet utilized HubSpot analytics, consider linking your website to Google Analytics to gather demographic information about your target audience, including age, gender, interests, lifestyle, nationality, and more.

 

2. Leverage website data to assess audience interests.

 

Which pages on your website are attracting the most views, shares, and comments? Both the successful and underperforming pages offer valuable behavioral insights for you to analyze.

Begin by observing the leading performers. Are there common themes among the most visited pages? How do users discover them? What is the average time users spend on these pages, and how far do they scroll down? After reading, do they explore further or sign up for your email list?

 

Pro tip: Create a clear navigation menu or sidebar that showcases your most popular content, making it easy for visitors to access these successful pages.

 

Many businesses feature their best-performing content on their websites in a "trending" or "most popular" section, similar to the deetsinfavour.space blog:

 

Source

Next, evaluate content that isn't performing well. Are there common themes among the pages that receive the least traffic? Are these pages easily accessible on the website, or are they hidden away? Have they been optimized for search engines? Could it be that the pages with low readership resonate with your audience, yet are not being found?

 

I've noticed that numerous businesses have valuable content tucked away in their blog archives. If you discover that older articles aren’t attracting readers but still hold value, consider refreshing them to enhance their visibility in search results.

 

3. Examine social media metrics for further insights.

 

Social media platforms gather various data points that can provide deep insights into customer demographics and content preferences.

 

Look into two categories of social media data:

1. Demographic information: Where are your customers located? What is their age range?

2. Content preferences: Which types of content do viewers engage with the most? What draws in the newest viewers? What strategies are effective, and which ones are not?

 

Each social media platform has its unique audience and characteristics, making it crucial to analyze your metrics across all channels. For instance, here are some insights you can derive from Facebook Analytics:

 

Pro tip: Some platforms, like Facebook, allow you to use detailed demographic information to segment your audience and customize your marketing campaigns. You can effectively tailor your content, messaging, and advertising strategies to match the characteristics and preferences of different audience segments.

 

 

Subcultures

Subcultures represent interests, lifestyles, or identities that some of your customers share. They're similar to customer interests, but a subculture is directly tied to identity.

People define themselves by their subcultures, and each group has distinctive interests and needs. For example, not all parents are the same. Parents of adult children belong to a different subculture from parents of toddlers.

Understanding the subcultures within your target market helps sharpen marketing materials and make groups feel represented.

A real-life example of subculture targeting is Liquid Death, a canned water company. The company has been rooted in the music subculture from the beginning. It has maintained that connection to the music industry through social media content, company aesthetic, partnerships, and events.