Who Is Your Target Audience, Really?

The “target audience,” “audience,” or “target market”—these are the terms used to describe the people that are most important to your business—the segment of population that’s most likely to purchase your product or service. And one of the first things an agency will ask a client is, “who is your target audience?” While it may seem like an easy question to answer many times it can be among the most difficult. Luckily, there are resources available to you and your agency to help you correctly answer this question and reap the rewards from an accurate target audience profile.

Your information is fresh, hot, and ready!
There’s information to be had on a variety of important customer characteristics including data that defines your target’s demographic, psychographic, and media profiles. Truly knowing your core audience and understanding the behaviors, perceptions and buying patterns of potential customers puts you leaps and bounds ahead of the competition to ensure future success and customer satisfaction. No matter the industry, whether you are marketing business-
to-consumer or business-to-business—defining your target audience correctly,
and in detail, will ensure that all marketing efforts are based on actual findings, rooted in sound strategies, and produce the best results.

Demographic Profile
Demographics give you information about your target audience such as average age, income, education, occupation, and other facts. Depending on the type of customer your product or service attracts, this demographic information may be broad enough to be easily obtainable on the Internet or it may be specific enough that you’ll want to purchase it through one of many reliable data sources like Lexis-Nexis, Corporate Profound, Scarborough, Northern Light, and Find SVP. Whether you’re looking for the demographic profile of a typical resident of Alameda County or the defining characteristics of Volkswagen owners who have purchased furniture in the last 12 months—the information is out there and it’s available to you.

Psychographic Profile
While a demographic profile will give you basic, factual information about the people you are targeting, a psychographic profile will help you understand them—their buying patterns, belief systems, and attitudes. For instance, how important is career, family and friends to your target? Do they make purchase decisions based on price, status, or brand name? Do they research all options before making a decision or are they impulse buyers? Gaining this type of insight is a good way to get inside the heads of your target audience and learn what really motivates them. When you know what motivates them, you and your company have a huge advantage in effectively addressing your customer’s most personal needs. And when psychographic data is combined with a demographic profile, you’ve got a powerful tool, which can accurately direct all future endeavors, from client communications to advertising and promotions.

Media Profile
When advertising efforts call for mass media, before you commit to a contract invest a little and gain a lot with a Media Profile. This profile correctly identifies the most watched television shows, most read publications, and most listened to radio formats of your target audience. The difference in media preferences between truck drivers, single working-mothers, and doctors for instance, is significant and with a comprehensive media profile you no longer have to guess at the appropriate media channels that best reach your particular audiences. Rather than letting an aggressive station representative try to convince you by flashing subjective sales statistics, that your audience is suited to their station, you can be prepared with accurate information in hand detailing exactly what your audience is watching, reading, and listening to.

Profile of success!
Valuable information is out there and it’s simply waiting for you to utilize it to your advantage. Obtaining important profiles on your true target will make your marketing more effective, your product better, and your brand stronger. Get smart—become more efficient and really wow your customers by giving them exactly what they want. To find out more about how you can benefit from defining your targets, contact Bouchard Marketing.