9 answers
Juan
Student
Hopewell, Virginia
2
Questions
Asked
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What is the importance of knowing your target audience in a marketing strategy?
Hello, I am a junior high school student and I am interested in knowing who is your target audience in a marketing strategy
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9 answers
John Jordan
Website Optimization
3
Answers
Chicago, Illinois
Updated
John’s Answer
Hi Juan,
Great question! Knowing who your target audience is when creating your marketing strategy is very important.
The essence of marketing is the message, and the essence of your message is your value proposition. That value proposition is essentially perceived value (pleasure) minus perceived cost (pain). To the extent you are able to increase that value-exchange sum will determine your success as a marketer.
With that context, let me more directly answer your question. Knowing your prospective customer (target audience) will allow you to understand why they say yes. What does your target audience value? What cost/pain are they willing to trade to get that value? That cost could be money, time, information (like an email address or phone number when checking out), etc.
After understanding the value-exchange sum of your core target audience, then you can match your messaging to the thought-sequence of that person through your marketing funnel.
I would suggest reading this excerpt from Marketer as Philosopher by Flint McGlaughlin: "On the Value Proposition and the Priority of the “Because” Factor" (slide 14) https://content.marketingsherpa.com/data/public/tools/Marketer_as_Philosopher_10_Chapter_Excerpt.pdf
Great question! Knowing who your target audience is when creating your marketing strategy is very important.
The essence of marketing is the message, and the essence of your message is your value proposition. That value proposition is essentially perceived value (pleasure) minus perceived cost (pain). To the extent you are able to increase that value-exchange sum will determine your success as a marketer.
With that context, let me more directly answer your question. Knowing your prospective customer (target audience) will allow you to understand why they say yes. What does your target audience value? What cost/pain are they willing to trade to get that value? That cost could be money, time, information (like an email address or phone number when checking out), etc.
After understanding the value-exchange sum of your core target audience, then you can match your messaging to the thought-sequence of that person through your marketing funnel.
John recommends the following next steps:
Bruno Novaes
Account Executive
5
Answers
Rio de Janeiro, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Updated
Bruno’s Answer
Hi Juan,
Knowing your target audience well is the bedrock and the first step towards a successful marketing strategy. Winning over a specific market segment requires deep understanding and research, especially about the people you want to reach. Nowadays, with the rise of social media, it's become simpler to connect with groups of people who have common beliefs or cultural ties. But remember, it's important to handle this method with care.
Venturing into the world of social media, for example, any word or phrase can ignite curiosity. This is where the magic of marketing campaigns comes into play. These campaigns need to be cleverly placed and in sync with what your audience expects. It's much like the timeless saying of "speaking your audience's language". That's why getting to know your target audience isn't just crucial, but it's the key to the victory of any marketing campaign.
Knowing your target audience well is the bedrock and the first step towards a successful marketing strategy. Winning over a specific market segment requires deep understanding and research, especially about the people you want to reach. Nowadays, with the rise of social media, it's become simpler to connect with groups of people who have common beliefs or cultural ties. But remember, it's important to handle this method with care.
Venturing into the world of social media, for example, any word or phrase can ignite curiosity. This is where the magic of marketing campaigns comes into play. These campaigns need to be cleverly placed and in sync with what your audience expects. It's much like the timeless saying of "speaking your audience's language". That's why getting to know your target audience isn't just crucial, but it's the key to the victory of any marketing campaign.
Twilio Volunteers
Volunteer
52
Answers
New York, New York
Updated
Twilio’s Answer
Knowing your target audience is absolutely critical to any marketing strategy. You need to know who you are marketing to in order to ensure you’re able to provide the right message to the right person at the right time.
Twilio Volunteers
Volunteer
52
Answers
New York, New York
Updated
Twilio’s Answer
Having an understanding of your target audience is critical in your ability to tailor your marketing messaging to resonate with their specific needs. You need to understand what their specific needs, interests, and most importantly what their pain points are to effectively communicate how your product or service will solve their issues.
Robert Fernandez
Business Owner / CEO - Web Consulting Firm
20
Answers
Los Angeles, California
Updated
Robert’s Answer
Hey Juan, that's a great question. I would say that knowing your target audience is SUPER important when implementing a marketing strategy and just in general. With so many advertising options available, it's extremely important to know who you're trying to emphasis your marketing dollars towards so they don't go wasted. Many of the popular ad platforms (Google Ads for instance), will help guide you with finding your target demographic. But if you don't listen and implement their suggestions, then your ad dollars can be spent quickly and very unwisely. So knowing how to tweak your ad settings (if available) can be the difference in running a positive ROI campaign versus a negative ROI campaign.
You also want to consider the specific advertising material and copy you'll be utilizing in your marketing efforts. Often times, the creatives will need to be specific to the target audience you're trying to pull in. Whether it's the visual assets or the copy within the image/text ad, it can be very specific to who you're trying to reach or convert. There's also the factor that many ad platforms or opportunities are going to be specific in so far as which type of audience they are more capable of reaching. So if you don't know your target audience, you could be spending your marketing dollars running ads on a platform or website that doesn't reach anyone who is a potential customer. Hope that helps!
You also want to consider the specific advertising material and copy you'll be utilizing in your marketing efforts. Often times, the creatives will need to be specific to the target audience you're trying to pull in. Whether it's the visual assets or the copy within the image/text ad, it can be very specific to who you're trying to reach or convert. There's also the factor that many ad platforms or opportunities are going to be specific in so far as which type of audience they are more capable of reaching. So if you don't know your target audience, you could be spending your marketing dollars running ads on a platform or website that doesn't reach anyone who is a potential customer. Hope that helps!
Alexander Maycock
Business Planner
2
Answers
Redmond, Washington
Updated
Alexander’s Answer
Sure, Juan, that's a reasonable question to ask.
In a marketing strategy, your target audience is essentially the group of people you aim to attract, engage, and possibly convert into customers. Let's say, for instance, I'm in charge of the marketing strategy for introducing a new video game to the market. I would identify my target audience based on various factors such as the game's ESRP rating, its content and theme, how I anticipate the customer or gamer would interact with the game, the game's price, among other things. By considering these factors, I might determine that my target audience consists of gamers aged 17-30, who are interested in exploration and a game they can spend a considerable amount of time on, and who have the financial capacity to afford a $40-60 purchase.
In essence, your target audience is the specific group of customers you expect or desire to attract to your "storefront." If you don't have this specific audience in mind, your marketing strategy might come across as too broad or ineffective, not just to your colleagues, but more crucially, to the potential customers you fail to attract.
In a marketing strategy, your target audience is essentially the group of people you aim to attract, engage, and possibly convert into customers. Let's say, for instance, I'm in charge of the marketing strategy for introducing a new video game to the market. I would identify my target audience based on various factors such as the game's ESRP rating, its content and theme, how I anticipate the customer or gamer would interact with the game, the game's price, among other things. By considering these factors, I might determine that my target audience consists of gamers aged 17-30, who are interested in exploration and a game they can spend a considerable amount of time on, and who have the financial capacity to afford a $40-60 purchase.
In essence, your target audience is the specific group of customers you expect or desire to attract to your "storefront." If you don't have this specific audience in mind, your marketing strategy might come across as too broad or ineffective, not just to your colleagues, but more crucially, to the potential customers you fail to attract.
Robin Elrod
2
Answers
Updated
Robin’s Answer
Hi Juan,
Knowing your target audience is EVERYTHING in marketing and communications strategy. If you do not know who you are trying to reach, you cannot build a personalized and integrated campaign to help them journey through and ultimately purchase.
My first step in any campaign is to define this audience. I look at things like:
- Job role/industry: Are there specific types of professionals you are hoping to reach? This is important for corporate events, as you need to know what kinds of professionals should attend your event and make it a success
- Basic demographics: Depending on your product, you may be targeting specific people like women/men, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, age. socioeconomics. It's important to think through all of these areas and how they will react to your product, who is most likely to buy.
- Geography: This is key across B2C and B2B marketing efforts alike. You need to know if your product is most likely to be affected by geo, and then if there is an area more likely to purchase
- Buyer history: Using a good CRM system (customer relationship management) is great in marketing campaign plans. You can look back on how individual buyers behave and use that to predict who might buy again, create 'lookalike audiences,' or audiences who have similar characteristics to your previous buyers. This then translates over to your email, paid, and organic campaigns.
The overall best thing I've found in marketing communications campaign planning is data. Collect as much data and record your processes as you build out your campaigns. Your future self will thank you, as you can look back to see what worked, areas for improvement, and initiatives that warrant repeating.
Knowing your target audience is EVERYTHING in marketing and communications strategy. If you do not know who you are trying to reach, you cannot build a personalized and integrated campaign to help them journey through and ultimately purchase.
My first step in any campaign is to define this audience. I look at things like:
- Job role/industry: Are there specific types of professionals you are hoping to reach? This is important for corporate events, as you need to know what kinds of professionals should attend your event and make it a success
- Basic demographics: Depending on your product, you may be targeting specific people like women/men, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, age. socioeconomics. It's important to think through all of these areas and how they will react to your product, who is most likely to buy.
- Geography: This is key across B2C and B2B marketing efforts alike. You need to know if your product is most likely to be affected by geo, and then if there is an area more likely to purchase
- Buyer history: Using a good CRM system (customer relationship management) is great in marketing campaign plans. You can look back on how individual buyers behave and use that to predict who might buy again, create 'lookalike audiences,' or audiences who have similar characteristics to your previous buyers. This then translates over to your email, paid, and organic campaigns.
The overall best thing I've found in marketing communications campaign planning is data. Collect as much data and record your processes as you build out your campaigns. Your future self will thank you, as you can look back to see what worked, areas for improvement, and initiatives that warrant repeating.
Tara Dalrymple
Workplace Community & Culture
7
Answers
Galway
Updated
Tara’s Answer
Hey Juan!
That’s such a great question, and it’s awesome that you’re already thinking about these things—way to go! Let’s break it down and make it simple, because knowing your target audience is super important in marketing (and honestly, in life in general!).
What Even Is a Target Audience?
Think of your target audience as the exact group of people who are most likely to be interested in what you’re selling or promoting. Imagine you’re throwing a party. If you want it to be a blast, you wouldn’t just invite anyone; you’d invite people who are into the same stuff you are, right? That’s exactly what marketers do—they focus on the people who are most likely to enjoy or need their product or service.
Why Does It Matter?
Let’s say you’re trying to sell trendy sneakers. If you advertise them to people who only wear formal shoes, you’re not going to get much interest. But if you show those sneakers to teenagers who are really into fashion, bingo—they’re way more likely to pay attention, and maybe even buy them. Knowing your target audience means you’re not wasting time and money trying to convince the wrong people to care. You’re focusing on the people who are already most likely to be excited about what you have to offer.
How Does It Help a Marketing Strategy?
Here’s the thing: Once you know your target audience, you can create a marketing strategy that feels like it’s speaking directly to them. For example:
Language & Tone: You’d talk differently to kids than you would to grandparents, right? The way you speak in ads, social media posts, or emails can be tailored to match your audience’s vibe.
Choosing Where to Advertise: Are your target customers always on TikTok? Or do they spend more time on Instagram? Knowing this helps you put your message in the right place so it actually gets seen.
Making the Product More Appealing: If you know what your audience likes or cares about, you can tweak your product or the way you present it to match their interests. It’s all about making them feel like, “Wow, this is perfect for me!”
Knowing your target audience is like having a secret map to where the treasure is. Without it, you’re just kind of wandering around, hoping to find gold. But with it, you’re way more likely to strike it rich (or in this case, get people excited about your product).
Hope that helps, Juan! Good luck, and keep asking great questions!
That’s such a great question, and it’s awesome that you’re already thinking about these things—way to go! Let’s break it down and make it simple, because knowing your target audience is super important in marketing (and honestly, in life in general!).
What Even Is a Target Audience?
Think of your target audience as the exact group of people who are most likely to be interested in what you’re selling or promoting. Imagine you’re throwing a party. If you want it to be a blast, you wouldn’t just invite anyone; you’d invite people who are into the same stuff you are, right? That’s exactly what marketers do—they focus on the people who are most likely to enjoy or need their product or service.
Why Does It Matter?
Let’s say you’re trying to sell trendy sneakers. If you advertise them to people who only wear formal shoes, you’re not going to get much interest. But if you show those sneakers to teenagers who are really into fashion, bingo—they’re way more likely to pay attention, and maybe even buy them. Knowing your target audience means you’re not wasting time and money trying to convince the wrong people to care. You’re focusing on the people who are already most likely to be excited about what you have to offer.
How Does It Help a Marketing Strategy?
Here’s the thing: Once you know your target audience, you can create a marketing strategy that feels like it’s speaking directly to them. For example:
Language & Tone: You’d talk differently to kids than you would to grandparents, right? The way you speak in ads, social media posts, or emails can be tailored to match your audience’s vibe.
Choosing Where to Advertise: Are your target customers always on TikTok? Or do they spend more time on Instagram? Knowing this helps you put your message in the right place so it actually gets seen.
Making the Product More Appealing: If you know what your audience likes or cares about, you can tweak your product or the way you present it to match their interests. It’s all about making them feel like, “Wow, this is perfect for me!”
Knowing your target audience is like having a secret map to where the treasure is. Without it, you’re just kind of wandering around, hoping to find gold. But with it, you’re way more likely to strike it rich (or in this case, get people excited about your product).
Hope that helps, Juan! Good luck, and keep asking great questions!
Leah Lengel
Global Events Marketing Coordinator
5
Answers
New Albany, Indiana
Updated
Leah’s Answer
Hi Juan! As many people have already stated, this is a great question! Knowing your target audience is incredibly important for your marketing strategy. Essentially, your target audience is the only way to bring some sort of success to what you're marketing. For example, let's say that you're marketing for a product that is for sports lovers. If your product is marketed to the wrong audience, then the chances of your having success to market and sell your product would be relatively slim. It doesn't relate to them, therefore, it's not super important to them. I'm unsure what you're marketing, but I think you should decide what types of people you want to relate to what you're marketing and go from there! I hope this helps. Good luck!