7 Proven Steps to Defining Your Target Audience

Jemully Media free target audience checklist

Download Our Free Target Audience Checklist.

It starts with the right questions. It ends with the right answers.

Here is an example of how the scenario goes in our agency. The table was set with the usual fare: fruit, cheeses, and a touch of something sweet (usually a muffin or two). Along with small porcelain plates, the notepads and pens were positioned by each place. The flat screen was displaying the company website. When we finished the get-acquainted pleasantries between our team and our new client, I directed the conversation to the purpose of the gathering—learning about his target audience.

“Thank you for sharing a little bit about yourself and the background of your company. So, as we begin to formulate a marketing strategy, help us understand exactly who is your target market—your ideal customer—for the business?”

“Everyone,” he replied with a little chuckle as he glanced at each person around the table, looking for signs of affirmation. “Everyone needs what we sell.”

Jemully Media conference table target audience meeting.
Photo credit: Stock Pic Shop

Every week our team sits down with business owners who participate in a similar scenario. It is our team’s goal to learn about each company so we can help the owner develop a strategy for growth. The answer to the common question, “Who is your exact target audience?” is one of the first questions a business owner should answer. The description in this answer impacts the effectiveness of whatever game plan is implemented. Not only will the answer be a guiding factor in the channels the business uses for the promotions, but it will also influence the content of the message that is going to be communicated.

When the first answer to the audience question is big, and wide, and inclusive, it is our job to ask more questions that will begin to draw smaller and smaller circles on the target. The final result of the questions and answers will be a central sphere that encompasses just the right persons for the product.

Defining the target audience for your business.

If your answer to the question is similar to the one we often get—”everybody!”—then our free seven-step checklist is for you. This checklist is our series of questions we use with clients. You can take this tool and answer the questions as they apply to your business. This set of questions helps you sift through the whole world and shake out which type of potential customer will benefit most from what you offer. After answering the questions, you will have a clearer picture of who the ideal customer is for your business. Knowing your ideal customer will help you focus your marketing efforts so they are tailored to reach the right segment of “everybody” who needs your product.

OUTLINING THE TARGET AUDIENCE PROCESS

In our free Target Market Checklist, you will work through a simple process of answering questions about your business that will help you:

  1. Define your brand and your niche.
  2. Define your unique value proposition.
  3. Describe your ideal customer.
  4. Describe what your ideal customer needs most.
  5. Craft your brand promise.
  6. Choose your marketing channels.
  7. Define your goals and measures.

We appreciate your interest in our Target Market guide! With this checklist in hand, you are well on your way to hammering out an effective marketing plan. Sometimes, knowing the right questions to ask is just as important as having all the answers.

DOWNLOAD THE CHECKLIST

To get your free downloadable PDF version of this content, simply fill out the form below. This form will also subscribe you to our newsletter where you will get access to other useful marketing tips. Don’t worry, we won’t overload your inbox, just our newsletter a few times a year with more helpful tips and links to some of our popular blog posts!

More resources for refining your target.

After you you answer the questions on our checklist, you may want to refine your audience even more. Additionally, we recommend some competitor research as well. Here are some resources that will help you take a deeper dive in your strategic planning.

Why You Might Desperately Need Brand Management Clean-up

brand management

Now that social media is the place for marketing, businesses need an increased focus on consistency in brand management.

We see it all the time–social media profiles for the same business contain varying and confusing information. Facebook will have one logo, while Twitter shows a different one. Their LinkedIn hasn’t been updated in months or there is a link for an March special and it’s June.

Which profile is up to date? Are these social media profiles for the same business or separate ones?

You do not want customers to ask these questions. You want current and complete social media profiles to further your brand identity. Ours is a world of fast clicks and quick scrolls, and instant brand recognition is imperative.

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Brand Identity: “Be Like the Cool Kids”

Brand Identity: Be Like the Cool Kids

Yeah, they’re invincible, and she’s just in the background.
And she says,
“I wish that I could be like the cool kids,
‘Cause all the cool kids, they seem to fit in.
I wish that I could be like the cool kids, like the cool kids.

—Cool Kids by Echosmith

If you’ve listened to a pop radio station in the last year you’ve heard Cool Kids by Echosmith. The simple and repetitive lyrics express the familiar teenage feelings of not fitting in to the cool crowd.

It’s also illustrative of dynamics in the marketing world. The marketing cool kids are doing something right, and thousands of marketers are wandering around the internet trying to nail down what it is.

Brand identity. It’s how who you are affects how you do what you do. Got it?

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How to Build a Brand & Why It Matters

how to build a brand concept

The first step in learning how to build a brand is to acknowledge that a true brand is more than a logo, more than a name. A brand is a dynamic, breathing thing that evolves and grows. It lives, it connects, it touches, it evokes, and it produces. Figuring out how to build a brand means putting the magical uniqueness of your business out there in a connectable way.

The concept of what a brand truly is is often misunderstood. In his book The Brand Gap, Marty Newmeier affirms that a brand is actually “a person’s gut feeling about a product or organization.” So, how do you ignite a “gut feeling?” Decide what you want consumers to feel about you, think about you, and associate with you and your business. Products have life cycles. A live brand, though, extends beyond products or service to continue the conversation (and conversions) for your business.

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Color Psychology in Web Design and Online Marketing

As web designers, we know color schemes are critical to appealing to your target audience. In our post “5 Reasons You Need a New Website Design” we reference a study that shows people form their first impression about a business within 3 seconds viewing the website. In 2-3 seconds you don’t have time to register content, but instantly you see the colors.

Color psychology studies how color affects human behavior.  Since our reactions to color are largely subconscious, it is an intricate subject that is difficult to qualify. Skeptics of color psychology say that our reactions to colors are too subjective to classify; also, our responses vary due to gender, culture, personal experiences, and even moods. While these inconsistencies make research inconclusive, there are still studies that show that there is more to color selection than meets the eye.

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5 Reasons You Need a New Website Design

We look at a lot of websites. You could say that we are websiteseers. And we’ve noticed there’s a whole category of websites out that are somewhere between good and bad. Let’s call them the Bachelor Pad websites. A bachelor pad site is fully functional (so it’s not totally bad), but it’s so generic and unimpressive that it’s not good. You could say these sites need a “woman’s touch.” Some may only need touching up, but some need a completely new website design, and stat!

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