Branding 101
Insight 3 - Know who you're talking to
Have you ever played darts blindfolded? If so, did you hit the bullseye or even hit the board for that matter? Not knowing who your target audience is and how you're relevant to them is very much like playing darts with a blindfold on....facing backwards. So, how do we define the term Target Audience? While there are many definitions floating about the industry, online, in published articles and in classrooms, we define it as the exact people you want to be speaking to succinctly with all your brand communication. It’s a combination of audience demographics and psychographics. The better you understand and define your customers, the more you can tailor their experience with your brand message and marketing. You’ll address their values, lifestyle, motivations and challenges.
Given the current state of the economy and amid the COVID-19 pandemic, having a well-defined target audience is more crucial than ever. You must take the time to identify the specific characteristics of your ideal customers. While demographics and the location of your prospects is important, you have to know as much as possible about them, so add to this list; personality traits, motivations, goals, interests, values, opinions, competencies and brand affinities. The more you can possibly find out about your audience, the more powerful your branding and messaging efforts will become.
What are some of the methods that are used to help define a target audience?
After many years helping clients to understand their target audience and aide in creating persona profiles, we use a combination of the following techniques, research methods and resources:
One-on-One Key Stakeholder & Team Interviews
One-on-One Customer Interviews
Customer Online Surveys (e.g. Audience feedback with Mailchimp or Google Forms)
Brand Strategy Sprint (Team Workshop)
Social Analytics (e.g. Facebook Insights, Twitter Followers Dashboard)
Talk to Social Followers
Analyse Competitor Social Activity & Followers
Analyse Customer Purchasing Data
