Find a Target Audience That’s Not Generic
Why should I avoid generic descriptions of my target audience?
What’s a good way to define my target audience?
How does this help me stand out from my competitors?
Soccer moms. Yuppies. Tweens. You might hear businesses using labels like these when they talk about target audiences.
It helps them narrow their ideal customers down into an easy group to market to. It makes sense...in theory.
But can a generic target audience like soccer moms really help you do the best marketing?
When it comes to target audiences, remember this: Customers are people, not stereotypes.
Really understanding your customer means knowing more about them than just their sex, age group, social status, and what type of job they have.
What you really need to know is WHY. As in: Why they act, think, and lead their lives the way they do.
Basically, you need to know your target audience as well as you know your closest friend.
You may be thinking, “Broad stereotypes are easier to come up with. Why can’t I market to 30-something hipster dads?”
Here’s why: It’s difficult – if not impossible – to be everything to everyone. There’s just too many competitors out there, and you won’t distinguish yourself from them.
And stereotypes can lead you to assume your target audience is one group when it’s actually a completely different group altogether.
How do you avoid the broad stereotype trap? Think about the major assumptions you’ve made about your customers – and challenge them.
Ask yourself which of these assumptions need to be validated before they can become a truth. Also, list out anything you might not know about your customers that you should explore.
As you whittle away at stereotypes, keeping some Dos and Don’ts in mind will help you find a better target audience.
Target Audience Dos:
DEFINE THEM NARROWLY
Find the nitty gritty details of your audience.
THINK LIKE THEM
See the world (and your business) through their eyes.
GO DEEP
Pay attention to context, mindset, emotions, motivations, and desires.
DO YOUR RESEARCH
Look into your theories and back them up with data.
Target Audience Don’ts:
BE GENERIC
AKA, avoid stereotypes. Look for what makes your audience unique.
RELY ONLY ON DEMOGRAPHICS
Race, gender, and other stats won’t help you reach narrow definitions.
MARKET TO “EVERYONE”
The “entire world” is not a good target audience, nor an easy one to reach.
FOLLOW YOUR COMPETITORS
Your target audience is not necessarily the same as your competitors’.
LISTEN UP
What those Dos and Don’ts are really saying is: Look at your audience as three-dimensionally as possible.
You’ll find a lot of different ways to do this, but we’ll take you through a few jumping off points.
You can look at definitions that are normally considered generic and broad, and then begin paring them down and refining them.
Instead of the very large 18 to 49 year old age group, you can look at specific age ranges like early 20’s or early 30’s.
Along with age, you can look at where your target audience is: city, suburbs, countryside, another country, etc.
What education level does your target audience have? High school, Bachelor’s, Master’s, or higher? Or are they self-educated?
Also look at what type of job they have: professional, blue collar, business owner, etc.
These descriptions do a decent job of defining your audience narrowly, but you can go further by looking at lifestyles and emotions.
Look at what they like to do and what type of hobbies they have. Are they into arts, science, socializing, etc.?
Your target audience’s values can also tell you a lot about them. Research what they believe in: honesty, hard work, community, family, etc.
Finally, look at how they view your business and product. Do they think of you as a pastime, a necessary evil, an escape, or something else?
Let’s see how Pinterest, the visual discovery tool for ideas you can try in real life, found success by narrowing down their target audience.
Founders Ben Silbermann and Evan Sharp originally created Pinterest as a tool to help themselves collect visual inspiration they found online. When they decided to make Pinterest available to others, they at first weren’t sure who they should market to.
One conference later, they found traction with a community of lifestyle bloggers, which helped populate Pinterest with great content. Based on this, Ben and Evan could have easily chosen the broad target audience of “creatives.”
Instead, Ben and Evan studied how Pinterest’s audience was growing organically. They looked at why people were using their tool and how they were using it.
Through this, they discovered new communities of Pinterest fans – like people who weren’t professional designers, but who were still interested in easy, creative ideas for home decor, fashion, and cooking.
Pinterest focused its marketing to reach this narrow target audience, which helped them quickly grow their user base and develop a global community of Pinners.
DO THIS NOW
To start defining your target audience like Pinterest, think of one current customer who you really value. Then ask yourself some questions about that person.
If you’re participating in the course, go to the next section to access your self assessment.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Using demographics isn't the only way to find your target audience.
Think like your customer and consider their emotions, mindset, needs, and wants.
Having a narrow target audience helps you reach your customers better and stand out from your competitors.