How to Define Your Target Audience

Ask yourself this question: Does your company give others something? Whether it’s a service or a product, if your company provides others with something, you have a target audience. And being able to accurately define that target audience is key to your company’s success. So how do you define your target audience?

Think about it this way: When you were a kid, was there someone you always went to when you wanted to hear “yes”? You knew your dad would say no to that overpriced jacket, so you went to your mom. Or you knew your mom wouldn’t agree to get you that BB gun, so you went to dad. Defining your target audience is a similar formula.

Case in point: You can’t please everyone. Therefore, all of your time, money and energy need to be directed toward the right target audience.

1. Ask yourself: What do I help with?

First things first – figure out what problems your business is solving. If you’re a marketing company, you’re helping customer’s spread the word about their companies. From here, you will have a pretty clear path to follow. You’ll start figuring out who and which type of businesses are likely to suffer from this problem/problems.

2. Come up with your perfect customer

You might have heard of this technique before: Painting a literal picture of your go-to customer. It can be a random picture on the internet or an actual customer. Either way, associating an actual face to your customers can help you narrow down your audience.

After you’ve listed the customers who are likely to suffer from the problems you’re addressing, group each one in locations or industries. Try to define the different groups. Are they male or female? Do they have certain activities (like golf) they are likely to do often? Make your definitions relevant to your goals.

3. Who’s going to get the most value?

You’ve likely been in this situation before – you’re thinking about buying something at the store, and you consider what will happen if you don’t buy it. The same can be done with your business. Ask yourself who has the most to lose if they don’t deal with the problem you’re addressing.

Then it’s up to you to show the potential cost of not addressing the issue. Once the customer sees the cost of sorting out the problem with you is LESS than not sorting it out, you’ll be golden.

4. What do you bring to the table?

Let’s be honest – there’s a good chance you aren’t the only person offering a solution to a certain problem. There’s likely hundreds – or thousands – of other companies doing the same thing. So you need to ask yourself why you are exclusively placed to solve this problem.

The answer for this could be several different things. Maybe you’re in an area where they aren’t that many marketing places available, or maybe your company has several different locations worldwide. Either way, putting yourself a step above the rest will help you zero in on a specific audience.

The easiest solution: Breakthrough. Not only do they excel in defining your target audience, but they help every stay on the same page. Collaboration is key, and we'll help you build a stronger marketing, sales and recruitment team.

Ask yourself this question: Does your company give others something? Whether it’s a service or a product, if your company provides others with something, you have a target audience. And being able to accurately define that target audience is key to your company’s success. So how do you define your target audience?

Think about it this way: When you were a kid, was there someone you always went to when you wanted to hear “yes”? You knew your dad would say no to that overpriced jacket, so you went to your mom. Or you knew your mom wouldn’t agree to get you that BB gun, so you went to dad. Defining your target audience is a similar formula.

Case in point: You can’t please everyone. Therefore, all of your time, money and energy need to be directed toward the right target audience.

1. Ask yourself: What do I help with?

First things first – figure out what problems your business is solving. If you’re a marketing company, you’re helping customer’s spread the word about their companies. From here, you will have a pretty clear path to follow. You’ll start figuring out who and which type of businesses are likely to suffer from this problem/problems.

2. Come up with your perfect customer

You might have heard of this technique before: Painting a literal picture of your go-to customer. It can be a random picture on the internet or an actual customer. Either way, associating an actual face to your customers can help you narrow down your audience.

After you’ve listed the customers who are likely to suffer from the problems you’re addressing, group each one in locations or industries. Try to define the different groups. Are they male or female? Do they have certain activities (like golf) they are likely to do often? Make your definitions relevant to your goals.

3. Who’s going to get the most value?

You’ve likely been in this situation before – you’re thinking about buying something at the store, and you consider what will happen if you don’t buy it. The same can be done with your business. Ask yourself who has the most to lose if they don’t deal with the problem you’re addressing.

Then it’s up to you to show the potential cost of not addressing the issue. Once the customer sees the cost of sorting out the problem with you is LESS than not sorting it out, you’ll be golden.

4. What do you bring to the table?

Let’s be honest – there’s a good chance you aren’t the only person offering a solution to a certain problem. There’s likely hundreds – or thousands – of other companies doing the same thing. So you need to ask yourself why you are exclusively placed to solve this problem.

The answer for this could be several different things. Maybe you’re in an area where they aren’t that many marketing places available, or maybe your company has several different locations worldwide. Either way, putting yourself a step above the rest will help you zero in on a specific audience.

The easiest solution: Breakthrough. Not only do they excel in defining your target audience, but they help every stay on the same page. Collaboration is key, and we'll help you build a stronger marketing, sales and recruitment team.