Target Your Audience to Gain New Customers in 2022

Happy new year! And happy new growth for your business in 2022! It's been a tough couple years in the business world just trying to stay afloat. If you're feeling you've stabilized somewhat or you're hoping growth can help you find stability then this is the post for you!

In a perfect world, our clients would be from all walks of life. Anyone and everyone would hire us or buy our products. In reality, that just isn't the case. Our products and services cater to a certain type of individual whether we realize it or not. Trying to cast the widest net possible only leads to a watering down of your brand. It's important to not only accept that you have a particular audience but to fully embrace it. Here are some steps to help guide you through the process of discovering your audience.

First, think about what types of customers you see most. Analyze their age groups, gender, marital and familial status, etc. Get an idea of what the typical customer spends at your business. If you can, make estimates about their income brackets. Talk to your customers to get an idea of how they heard about your business or what they like about your offerings. Take notes on how many different types of people purchase from your shop or interact with your social media. Gather information from online reviews to see what demographics like your company versus those who didn't enjoy their interactions and why. It's a bit of a research project but well worth the effort!

As important as figuring out who your customer base is, you need to write out who it isn't. If you know you tend to serve older groups then you know your customer base isn't teenagers. Therefore, it's a waste of your time to advertise to that group. If you serve mostly young professionals because your restaurant is nearby several office buildings you can focus your efforts on convenience meals rather than kids meal promotions.

Using these observations, create a customer persona profile. A customer persona is an amalgamation of the average or ideal traits of your customer base. Once you get an idea of what your client base looks like on average, create a persona based on the average customer. Then, think about what you'd prefer your client base to be. Do you want to bring in clients with more expendable income? Do you want to serve more family groups for larger overall tickets? This is how you create your ideal customer persona. Create a second (or more) persona with your ideal customer’s traits. If there are different types of customers you serve or want to serve you should create more than one persona profile. These imaginary profiles give you an idea of who you are directing your marketing efforts towards so you can ensure your messaging and strategy is on target.

These three basic profiles have some similarities and some differences. Different types of businesses might be of interest to one, two, or all three of them depending on what the business is. Context is important to really get to the bottom of who your customer base is.

Another important aspect of finding your target audience is to determine who your direct competitors are. What customers do you have in common? What customers are they getting that you would like to attract instead? Is it a matter of the cost of services? Maybe your location or offerings draw in different crowds? Use these observations to revise and perfect your ideal customer persona profiles.

If you have access, use analytics to gather additional information about your customers. You can find insights with Google Analytics, Instagram Business Account analytics, and many other resources depending on your own online presence. Many website hosting sites also offer analytics with your paid membership.

Finally, ask yourself if what you're offering is what your ideal audience wants. Is your price point in line with their finances? Is the atmosphere of your shop inviting to families? Is your branding appealing to that group's aesthetic? Make adjustments as needed until your audience expectations and reality are aligned.

There is a lot of information to sort through but it is worth every second of research. Don't be afraid to niche down to your target audience. It may feel like a smaller audience but the messaging and impact will be much more potent. If you need help in this area, I offer target audience analysis as a part of my branding package and I would love to help you succeed! If you feel you’ve got a pretty good handle on it, feel free to download my free customer persona worksheet below. It can help guide you through the many areas of audience analysis and develop your own customer personas.

Looking for a head start? Download my FREE customer persona worksheet to help you find your audience and perfect your outreach efforts!

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