The Shark Tank

Knowing your audience when producing content is easier said than done. Knowing what their audience wants to read is a challenge for almost four in 10 business communicators. Understanding your target audience is important because it will help you prioritize their wants and needs.

What is a Target Audience?

A target audience could be a large group or a small niche of people who could make use of your products or services. These groups are developed by market segmentation. Market segmentation is dividing your target audience into more digestible groups. Segmentation creates subgroups based on specific characteristics. Understanding these common characteristics can help you leverage your target audience in marketing strategies and sales.

Research Your Target Audience

It is important to conduct proper research on your target audience to find out what they really care about. While you conduct your research, it is important to keep in mind that target audience and demographic are two different things. Target audiences tend to be much larger than demographics. This is because one target audience can consist of multiple demographics.

It is common for big businesses to spend a lot of money on research, but there are also low-budget research options for small businesses. You should not underestimate the importance of properly researching your target audience because it is the base of all your marketing efforts.

Three Ways You Can Better Understand Your Audience

1. Be creative & innovative

The world is full of businesses trying to grab consumers’ attention. It is imperative that you set yourself apart from the competition and do things that will not only grab your target audience’s attention but hold it long enough to make them a customer. For example, Nerf hired its first CTO (Chief TikTok Officer) by hosting a unique video application competition on the TikTok platform. This was smart because the CTO is a young girl who is around the age of Nerf’s target audience.

2. Listen & interact with your audience

When you regularly listen and interact with your audience it makes it easier to create content tailored to them. This also helps build a relationship between the audience and the company because the customer feels heard.

3. Understand the lingo

Staying on top of trends is not enough. You need to know the language and slang of the audience you are targeting to understand them better. There are keyword generators but they are not always reliable and could lead to an embarrassing situation. It is better to understand the lingo yourself to create the best content possible for your audience.