Trying to make everyone happy is a surefire way to please no one. This applies to your marketing as well: attempting to reach everyone will result in reaching no one at all. Sure, people might stumble upon your ad or website, but your message won’t resonate if it isn’t tailored to a specific audience.

Identifying your target audience and implementing this knowledge immediately is crucial. This guide provides the information and steps to do just that.

Contents

• What is a target audience?
• Target audience vs. target market
• Why you need a target audience
• Types of target audiences
• How to find your target audience
• How to form your target audience profile
• Target audience examples

A target audience is the specific group you aim to engage with your marketing efforts. This means all your marketing materials – from emails and taglines to your brand’s story – should be designed to appeal to this group.

Take AirBnB’s marketing campaign, for example, with its impactful video and messaging.

The video features a youthful, passionate voice, and the visuals are not overly polished, resembling high-quality iPhone footage captured in the moment. This clearly targets young adults seeking authentic and spontaneous travel experiences. And it’s successful. This highlights the significance of find your target audience. To captivate this demographic, ensure everything you create is tailored to their preferences.

Let’s clarify a common misconception: Your target audience is not the same as your target market. Your target market encompasses everyone who might benefit from your product or service, while your target audience is the specific group within that market you’re trying to reach through your marketing.

For instance, if your target market is small businesses, your target audience could be local service-based business owners, marketing managers in small e-commerce companies, freelance marketing consultants, or all of the above. Businesses often have multiple target audiences within their broader target market.

Here are some examples of target audiences:

• Assisted living facility
  • Target market: Senior citizens
  • Target audience #1: Seniors residing in New England
  • Target audience #2: Working adults in New England with senior parents
• Moving company
  • Target market: Individuals relocating
  • Target audience #1: Urban apartment dwellers
  • Target audience #2: Suburban families
• PPC platform
  • Target market: Small businesses
  • Target audience #1: Owners of local, service-based businesses
  • Target audience #2: Marketing managers employed by small firms Drilling down further, you’ll have even more specific mini target audiences for each campaign. In fact, HubSpot revealed that most marketers tailor their content for multiple audiences, with three being the most prevalent.

These examples demonstrate why knowing your target audience is so crucial. It provides the context needed to develop compelling content and messaging. A PPC software provider catering to small businesses will have distinct branding and marketing compared to one serving enterprise-level clients.

Similarly, an ad campaign for a senior living facility targeting seniors directly will differ significantly from one aimed at adult children caring for aging parents.

Your business can have various target audiences based on your marketing goals and the focus of your efforts. Some campaigns might require a laser focus. For example, a landscaping business might offer a town-specific discount or event to strengthen its customer base in that area.

Consider TruGreen_, a Tennessee-based company targeting new customers in Boston through this Google Ad and its corresponding discount. When identifying your target audiences, concentrate on those aligning with your primary marketing channels. Here are a few illustrations:

• Email: A newsletter with general tips for your broader audience, nurture email sequences for leads, or triggered emails for existing customers.
• Events: Community-wide events (like the landscaping example), events for potential customers, or even events exclusively for existing clients or prospective partners.
• Community: A Slack or Discord group connecting potential customers in similar roles or existing customers using your product.
• Ads: Facebook Ads encouraging repeat purchases, Google Ads targeting prospects seeking specific solutions, or Instagram shopping ads focused on competitors’ customers.
• Social media: Sharing thought leadership content aimed at influencers, how-to videos for potential customers, or interviews with relevant figures like authors, celebrities, or industry experts.

If you lack clarity on your target audience – whether for your overall branding, a specific marketing channel, or a particular campaign – it’s time for some introspection. Determine your target audience by analyzing who engages with your product, brand, and marketing. Here’s how:

1. Conduct customer interviews
2. Analyze your social media following
3. Examine your marketing performance metrics
4. Study your competition
5. Define who your target audience is not This infographic from Venngage illustrates these steps:

Click to view full-size Let’s delve deeper into each step:

1. Begin with your existing customers

Your customers are already using your product or service, so something about your offering, solution, marketing, or a combination thereof resonated with them. This makes them the ideal starting point.

First, analyze their demographics – their job titles, location, age, etc. Look for patterns, especially among loyal, repeat customers. Then, compare those patterns with those found in your one-time customers. Next, engage in conversations with your customers. Direct interaction is the most effective way to understand why they appreciate your brand, product, or team. This insight informs your positioning, including the benefits you emphasize in your copywriting and communication.

Moreover, inquire about where your customers spend their time and seek advice. Are they drawn to specific Instagram influencers, industry newsletters, or reputable company blogs? This information is invaluable for prioritizing your marketing channels.

Questions about problems/pain points:

• What problem were you trying to solve?
• How were you addressing this problem before finding us?
• Did you encounter any issues with previous vendors?
• What hesitations, if any, did you have in choosing us?
• How can we improve? Questions about lifestyle/behavior:
• How did you discover us?
• What keywords did you search?
• Which media/newsletters related to this topic do you follow?
• What social media platforms do you use?
• How much time do you spend online? Questions about your competitors:
• Why did you choose us over competitors?
• What is the primary benefit you derive from our product/service?
• What other benefits have you encountered?
• What do you appreciate most about us?

2. Analyze your social media following

Your social media followers represent another pre-existing audience that reveals who your current marketing attracts. It showcases consumers who have a genuine interest in your brand. According to Sprout Social, people primarily follow brands on social media for discounts, company updates, and new product or service announcements.

Access to your social media followers is more limited compared to your customers. If you opt for interviews, stick to brief surveys with focused questions. Otherwise, concentrate on demographics and behavior:

• Location
• Age
• Occupation
• Household income
• Activity level
• Other brands they follow Pay close attention to your most engaged followers.

Tools, including free ones like Buffer, can help analyze this data.

3. Examine your content analytics

Website visitors form another existing audience worth investigating. Who reads your content, downloads your whitepapers, or engages with your videos?

Google Analytics is your go-to resource for this information. You can glean insights about:

• Demographics: The geographical distribution of your users, including their countries and cities.
• Referral sources: Identify if users arrive from Twitter, niche industry websites, specific bloggers, etc. This pinpoints effective marketing channels for your campaigns.
• Content resonance: Understand what interests your website visitors, providing clues about your target audience and how to appeal to them.
• Search terms: Discover the Google searches leading users to your site. The platform even offers an Interests tab showcasing affinity categories and in-market segments:

4. Research your competitors

Every business has competitors, regardless of the product, offering, or target audience. And you can learn from them.

Analyze your competitors’ target audience by observing their marketing strategies. Where do they advertise (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter)? Who are their ads addressing? Which pain points do they emphasize? Examine their ads, messaging, and branding to understand their target audience and compare it to yours – both the overlaps and distinctions. Overlaps offer validation, while differences highlight your brand’s unique selling points.

In this instance, monday.com clearly differentiates its target audience from Trello’s: marketers working on larger teams, managing multiple projects, and requiring immediate solutions.

Beyond identifying their target audiences, analyze the engagement levels their content receives from these audiences. Dive into their social media following to pinpoint further overlaps and distinctions. For a detailed approach, refer to our guide on competitive analysis for search and social media.

5. Establish your boundaries

While seemingly out of place, this final step is crucial: identify who your customer is not. Consider the monday.com example – they clearly defined their target audience and, consequently, who they weren’t targeting. Their ideal customer isn’t someone seeking a basic, free Kanban tool (Trello’s domain).

Review your accumulated information – customer interviews, social media followers, website visitors, and competitors’ target audiences. Then, pinpoint the gaps representing demographics you don’t serve.

• Are you a pet store that doesn’t carry reptile tanks? Then iguana owners aren’t your target audience.
• Selling boozy milkshakes? You can’t target individuals under the legal drinking age, even if your imagery doesn’t explicitly convey that.
• Can you only service US customers? Your target audience excludes those outside this geographical area.

Defining your boundaries guides both your marketing and overall business strategy.

After gathering data about your followers, anecdotal customer information, and competitor insights, consolidate everything into a comprehensive target audience profile. Include information like:

• Location
• Age
• Gender identification
• Job title
• Industry
• Education level
• Household income
• Interests
• Hobbies
• Platform usage Your target audience profile will also encompass details relevant to your specific brand. Here are a few examples:
• First-time dog owners in urban areas
• College seniors unsure of their career path
• Trained chefs working outside the culinary industry Using this information, develop detailed, fictional personas representing specific buyer types within your target audience to share with your team.

Let’s solidify your understanding with examples of target audiences using familiar brands.

Wild One

Imagine selling dog gear – harnesses, bowls, leashes, toys. Your target market is obviously dog owners. Your marketing strategy might involve user-generated social media ads featuring satisfied customers, a weekly newsletter with heartwarming dog stories, a blog about pet care, and whitepapers for first-time dog owners. Your branding exudes a sleek, modern, and minimalist aesthetic. Your target audience for this campaign isn’t just pet owners; it’s young Millennials or Gen Z individuals who recently became first-time dog owners.

Wild One’s landing page demonstrates excellent targeting – from its branding and copy to a strategically placed toy catering to work-from-home pet parents.

Airbnb

This campaign clearly targets adventurous individuals who love dogs.

Would these ads resonate as strongly with dog lovers if they featured a generic image of someone smiling with a suitcase and a bullet point mentioning dog-friendly hosts? Not quite.

However, Airbnb also implements campaigns targeting young couples, single professionals, seniors, and other demographics.

Nike’s target audience

Analyzing Nike vs Under Armour reveals that although both brands target individuals interested in sportswear and athleisure, their target audiences differ significantly. Nike, a premium brand, focuses on influential individuals and people up to 55 years old. Conversely, Under Armour, a more budget-friendly option, primarily targets the 18-25 Gen Z demographic, with a predominantly male audience.

Starbucks’ target audience

Let’s compare Starbucks and Dunkin’. Starbucks targets college students and higher-income professionals. With its in-store merchandise, healthy snacks, comfortable seating, and complimentary WiFi, Starbucks caters to individuals who enjoy working, socializing, or relaxing while sipping their coffee (and saving the planet).

Dunkin’, with its minimal in-store experience and lower prices, targets individuals on the go (living up to its slogan, “America runs on Dunkin’”) with tighter budgets. It’s also more prevalent in the eastern United States.

Image source

Define and leverage your target audience

Visualizing your target audience clearly is crucial, but it’s not the final step. Ensure your entire team understands and internalizes these profiles to maximize your marketing effectiveness. Once you define your target audience, disseminate this information widely so all your business endeavors cater to those who matter most.