The value proposition of every business is critical to the success or failure of the business. As a business owner or entrepreneur, what are the values your business stands for or represents? What is your brand strategy? And how do you define your target audience? These are pertinent questions that every business owner should be able to answer at the early stages of their business.
Some business owners are at a stage where they need to re-focus their brand strategy on a new target audience. They need to redefine and re-target a new audience that they didn't target initially. One reason for targeting a new audience could be that a business owner did not clearly define the value proposition of their brand at the early stages of the business. Every business needs to concentrate their efforts on identifying and selling their products to a select group of people; otherwise, all their marketing efforts may not generate the desired result.
Why Do Brands Need To Have A Target Market
As a business owner or entrepreneur, you cannot afford to build your market strategy on the basis of selling to everyone, because at the end of the day, you'll end up selling to no one. For this and many more reasons are why you need to define the target audience for your brand.
What is the target audience?
Well, for starters, target audience, or target marketing relates to an approach where a brand or business tries to advertise their goods or services to a select group of people who are in need of such goods or services.
In target marketing, a brand seeks to analyze and divide a large market into smaller units in order to focus its marketing efforts on a smaller unit within the larger unit. Here are some reasons why brands need to focus on target marketing;
Marketing campaigns from targeted advertisements have been proven to be twice more effective than non-targeted advertisements.
According to the Direct Marketing Association, 2015, emails that are targeted at a select group of people generate 58% of all revenue.
A brand that targets a specific set of people tends to have loyal customers who would always patronize their business.
Certain demographics like gender, age, location, education, income are important factors to consider when defining your target audience. For example, if you are setting up a company that produces make-up, it is most likely that your business or brand will appeal more to women within a certain age grade who can afford to buy your products. These women now become their target audience.
If you are looking to redefine your target audience as a business owner or you want to target a new audience based on your value proposition, here are some useful tips that can come in handy.
1. Identify Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
This entails ensuring that your products or services address a particular need, challenge, or expectation of a specific set of people. In other words, what are the challenges your product or service can solve, and who are the people facing this kind of challenge?
Identifying your unique selling proposition is a great way to set your brand apart from other brands.
Your unique selling proposition relates to the challenges that your products or services are capable of solving.
2. Examine Your Existing Customers
As a business owner, if you are looking to target a new audience and you do not know how to go about it, then you need to examine your existing customers. Speak to your existing customers, most especially the ones that are loyal to your brand, no matter how few they are. Get to know their challenges and expectations, and get to know how your brand meets those expectations.
When you have an honest conversation with your existing customers, you'll get an idea of the kind of customers you should be targeting.
3. Write A Description Of The Kind Of Audience You Want To Target
When writing a target market description for a new target audience, you'll need to be specific. Here are some guidelines you can use.
What is the age grade of the new audience you want to target? Are they children, adults, teenagers, etc.
What is the gender classification of your target audience? Do you want to sell to the female folks or the male folks?
What is the minimum income level of your ideal target audience? If your products are luxury products, you'll need to target customers who can afford them.
What type of family setting do you want to target? Do you want to sell to married people, singles, divorced, etc.
Once you are able to come up with a description of the new audience you want to target, then you are well on your way to establishing a new audience for your brand.
4. Take A Look At Your Competitors
In trying to define your new target market, you need to look at what your competitors are doing and who they are targeting. This can come in handy if you do not know how to define your new target audience.
Are your competitors targeting customers that fit into the value proposition of your brand? Analyzing your competitors is a great way to figure things out, plus, it's also a good opportunity for you to look at areas where you can improve so as to make you stand out.
5. Reach Out To Your New Audience
On the off chance that you're able to identify your new target audience, the next question would be; how do you connect with them? Thankfully, it is very easy now more than ever to connect with your target market. With the presence of various social media platforms, connecting with your audience would be a breeze.
You'll, however, need to come up with the best social media platform where you are likely to find more of your audience. Try as much as possible to strike an emotional connection with your audience. This would guarantee that you'll have customers who would be loyal to your brand.
In today's business world, identifying, defining, and connecting with your target audience is no longer a necessity; it is a must if you want to see real growth for your business and brand. If you are confused about how to identify your ideal audience or you want to target a new audience, you can use the tips mentioned above to kick start your journey.
Melissa Mauro is a freelance writer who creates quality and original content. She is working for the company The Word Point in the translation department and wants to find new platforms for professional growth. She believes that creativity and improvement are things, which distinguish a good writer.
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