4 minute read

Why You Should Know Your Target Audience

You want to create quality content that will grab your visitor’s attention, connect them to the correct landing page on your website, and actually get them to purchase your product or service.

That’s easier said than done if you don’t know your target audience. Who are they? Where do they spend their time most? What are they looking for? What are their pain points?

3 reasons to define your target audience:

  1. After you have an idea who your target audience is, you can begin forming a niche group of followers who share similar characteristics. Having a smaller target audience means that you are spending more quality time focusing on a niche group’s needs.
  2. Understanding your audience will give you an idea of whether you need to have a formal or informal tune within your content. While an online community of friends enjoys the informal and relaxed tone in writing, a more professional audience may expect a more formal voice.
  3. If your audience are a group of experts or have a preference of topics that they like to learn about, then you can spend less time guessing what they want to read and spend more time providing better content that they are looking for.

When you’re creating the right content for the right people and ensuring that they are benefiting from each article, you are more likely to convert viewers into customers.

How to Identify Your Audience

If you’re not already familiar with whom your audience is, ask yourself the following:

  • How much do they already know about my topic?
  • What is their opinion about my topic?
  • What are their goals?

You will need to investigate further to find what is going to benefit them the most from your product or service. Here are some strategies to find your target audience:

  • Conduct user surveys regularly using programs like SurveyMonkey. They have a free plan that currently allows you to ask 10 questions to 100 people.
  • Use Google Analytics to track visitors on your website and blog. The free version offers tons of useful info.
  • Analyze your social media followers – Do they share similar “Likes” and activities?
  • Monitor your content – Why are some succeeding and others failing?
  • Ask your audience feedback with an automated email.
  • Talk to your social followers and interview a handful of key users.
  • Analyze your competitions’ social media followers and website traffic.
  • Use online listening tools like Social Mention and Hootsuite. Both have a free package, great for starting off.

How to Understand Your Target Market

Once you are able to identify your audience, you want to make sure that you understand what they are looking for in your content. Ask yourself:

  • What problems does my company’s product or service solve? What are the audience’s most common problems that need solving?
  • Who are our current customers? What are they interested in? Where do they spend their time researching? What topics do they think of the most?
  • Who is my competition? Why should customers choose us instead?

In the end, your target audience should connect with your product/service, your main demographic, and your content’s mission.

how to know your target audience

Creating Content for Your Target Audience

So, you finally have better knowledge of who your target audience is. Now what? You want to create content that will focus on their needs and grab their attention.

Finding Content For Your Core Base

Create content that your target audience wants to read without engulfing them in advertisement for your product or service. Your current customers may be interested in features and savings, but your new potential customers most likely want to focus on the content for their own benefit and get their questions answered.

Instead of focusing on the product and service directly, focus on topics that surround what your product or service can do for them. When the reader is ready to buy, they will be well informed and remember where they got that info from.

Adjusting Your Writing For a Target Audience

Every time you write to your audience, you must make sure that the voice you convey is specific to your audience’s characteristics, personality, and needs. Creating a personality profile or buyer persona is one way to better know your target audience.

Remember to focus your content on your audience’s needs by focusing on questions that they would normally ask you or your competitors. Build trust by sharing the benefits of your blog and services rather than the feature that it provides when they use it. End your content by giving your audience a clear call-to-action, such as purchasing your product or service, or receiving a free consultation.

For more information on creating content that will turn your viewers into customers, download our free eBook below on effective content marketing strategies.

eBook Content Marketing Strategies and Knowing Your Audience