Sometimes marketing is a moving target. It can be frustrating to know what to spend your marketing dollars on to make the most significant impact on your sales goals. Let’s take a macro look at your target audience to get a better idea of how to reach them.
The first step in defining your target market is to create a product or service that is in demand. You do this by presenting your business as the solution to a problem. Once you have that established, it’s easy to begin imagining who might have this type of problem. In marketing, we refer to “pain points” as problems belonging to your customer that your business can actually solve.
Start by making a list of the types of people who have this problem and then begin to group them by location. Our marketing agency is known for its work in the backyard recreation industry. Let’s imagine your business is in-ground pool construction. What problems are you solving? There are probably more than you think!
Defining the Pain Points
Consumers who purchase pools want:
- A place to cool off in Summer
- An activity for their kids that gets them off their screens
- Increased value to their home and backyard renovation
- A place where they can work out from home
- … and so on!
Now you can start to have an idea of who your audience is, but we can break this down even more by creating groups. Are they male or female; what is their income; are they married? Continue to define these groups with as many relevant details as possible.
From the groups you have created, who suffers the most? Which group benefits the most from your solution? Let’s focus on that specific audience and think about ways to position your business as valuable. We have to show that the pain caused by this problem is worth spending money on to alleviate. To achieve this, we agitate their problem by speaking to the stress or physical discomfort they deal with daily and the toll this has on their emotional and physical well-being.
Refining your Target Audience
Here’s an example of an avatar you can create based on the research you’ve completed. An avatar is a pretend person who embodies the problems of your average consumer. You can have a male, a female, or even a specific age range of males or females. Your average consumer might be a woman in her 40s who has 2 children and a husband. She is a homeowner, works full time and has a college degree. With this information, you can start designing ad images and ad copy that speaks to her! The benefit is that you will be able to make a deeper connection with this consumer because you are speaking to her life and problems.
We hope these first few stepping stones have you thinking about your target audience and how to better reach them. In Part 2 of this blog topic, we’ll tighten our focus by exploring niche markets, establishing your company as an expert in your industry, and how to stand out from your competitors.
