In the world of digital marketing, using a “build it and they will come” strategy is not going to be very effective. For any ad or piece of content to be effective, it has to be catered to a specific audience. When a brand attempts to appeal to everyone, they typically end up appealing to no one. Don’t let that happen to you. It will be a waste of your time and efforts.

Even when you know that you have to use a target marketing approach, it can be difficult to understand how to do so, if you don’t know what or who you are targeting. You cannot create content for your audience if you don’t know who your audience is, right?

5 Tips for Finding Your Target Customer

Really great content will attract an audience, but when you are a business, you don’t need audiences, you need customers. The greatest content in the world won’t sell your product if it isn’t targeted to your customer base. Let’s say your team writes an astounding piece for your blog about vegan recipes that goes viral. Awesome, right? Well, not if you are selling beef jerky. You may have an audience of 1 million vegans interacting with your content, but it is highly unlikely that any of that engagement is going to turn into a customer base.

That is why the first step to target marketing is defining your audience. Use these five tips to help you pinpoint exactly who your target customer may be, then you can work on creating content that connects and benefits an audience that is likely to become your customer base.

1. Define your solution. Whatever product or service you are selling, it solves a problem for your customer. You are never just selling a product, you are offering a solution. The first step to defining your target customer is figuring out what solution you are offering the world, then you can look to what types of people may be interested in your solution.
2. Look at who is already buying. Even if you are a relatively new company, you have likely already had at least one or two customers. Who are they? Look at the demographics of the people who are already buying your products, and highlight the similarities between them.
3. Study your competition. You probably already have a very good idea who you are competing with. In fact, you may have even written about it in your business plan. If you have no idea who your competition is, you need to start doing your research. Use Google or social media channels and search your keywords. What other brands are using those keywords? When you find a couple, you can check their “About Us” page and see what audience they are focusing on.
4. Conduct a survey. There are plenty of free products out there that will help you create a survey. (This can also be a good marketing tool because you can offer discounts/coupons to those that complete your survey!) Use this tool to find out what your customers or potential customers care about. This will give you more clues as to what solutions your product is offering.
5. Use your tools. It is likely that you are already working on your digital marketing efforts. Use the tools on your social platforms like the Insights tab on Facebook to see who is interacting with your posts. You can also take a look at the profiles of your followers, what similarities can be found there?

Get Help with Your Target Marketing Efforts

There is no rule that says you have to go it alone! The digital marketing world is large and complex, let Organically guide you. We can help you find your target customer and build a content strategy to attract them.