For most companies, your audience is the heart of your brand. When they’re satisfied, it means that the brand has lived up to its promise. People who love their favorite brands can be some of the best marketing resources you have…and you don’t even have to pay them! When your audience is so impressed with your product or service that they’re sharing it with others, you’ve hit the sweet spot in the market —a figurative bulls eye comprised of finding your target audience and filling their need.
But for some companies, the tricky part isn’t necessarily the audience itself; the tricky part is the challenges that present themselves when trying to find the right audience. Your new luxury hotel isn’t going to do so well if you focus all your marketing towards people who don’t travel, and your sports industry business isn’t going to fare well if you spend all your ad dollars trying to reach people who aren’t interested in sports. Seems pretty obvious, right? Unfortunately, it’s not always so straightforward.

Take, for example, a business that sells customized staircases to high-end clientele. This is a very niche need, so rather than trying to build awareness with everyone, you’d need to focus your efforts on a group of people with that specific need. You might have a low conversion rate, but even a single conversion leads to an extremely high-value transaction, the goal is to focus on reaching quality potential customers, as opposed to just reaching a high quantity of people.

So, how do we go about finding your business’s target audience? Here are a few ideas from our Orlando marketing agency.

 1. Market research reports: These days, market research is available all over the web. Some of it you may have to pay for, but it’s usually a wise investment – market researchers from companies like Forrester and Nielsen have already done the hard work for you, so it’s cheaper than spending your own business dollars to try to glean insights into customer behavior. [quote]There are market research reports on almost every topic under the sun: from organic eating habits to people’s growing use of mobile technology.[/quote] Look to these reports to help you understand the consumer landscape.

2. Census data: We often think of the census as that thing the government does every 10 years. However, the U.S. Census website has a ton of interesting demographic information that can be extremely useful in targeting people based on geographical needs. Use this in tandem with other research for best results.

3. Survey data: Companies like SurveryMonkey and Qualtrics are useful for gaining statistical insight into peoples’ activities. Use this information to formulate hypotheses about your target audience, which you can then supplement with research data and test through your communications and marketing strategies.

 4. Qualitative data: While often more expensive than the other forms of research listed here, this is one of the best ways to gain insights about your target audience. This is because it frees people to give open-ended responses, giving the person conducting the interview or focus group more opportunities to gain insights beyond a simple yes or no response, as is typically the case with survey data.

 5. Online listening: Looking at brand mentions on online platforms can help figure out who influences your brand. By reviewing those peoples’ demographics and their own audiences, you can find out more about them and how they interact with your brand or business. There are a host of online listening tools available, but some favorites here at our Orlando advertising agency are Brandwatch, Radian6 and SDI Social Intelligence.

The team at our Orlando marketing agency will be happy to field any questions you may have! We want to help make sure your marketing efforts are 100% on target. Contact us today to determine how we can help!